The life of a man who died on a downtown Tulsa street during February’s bitter cold remains largely a mystery to those who tried to help him.
Not because they didn’t ask. Vaylord Sullivan was simply reserved.
“He was a quiet gentleman,” said Noe Rodriguez, associate director of the Tulsa Day Center. “He was cordial.”
And if he struggled with untreated mental illness, he was not admitting it, Rodriguez said.
No matter how many times homeless outreach teams would make contact in attempts to build rapport to work toward finding Sullivan a sustainable housing solution, he would consistently give the same, limited information; the same one- or two-word answers, Rodriguez said.
The 76-year-old could often be seen walking along downtown Tulsa streets.
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Once spotted collecting scrap aluminum cans, and normally dressed in a striking red dress coat or robe, Sullivan was thin. The curls of his light gray facial hair contrasted with his aged, Black skin, and his deep brown eyes almost begged onlookers to seek the story of his past.
Tulsa World photographers snapped his photo on at least two occasions in the past decade. In 2012, he opened up to Tulsa World photographer John Clanton, telling him that he had a place to stay in north Tulsa but went downtown most weekdays to get breakfast.
He told Clanton he was originally from a big family in Tulsa and had studied music at a small college in California.
“If anybody needs a drummer,” he told Clanton then, “I’m ready to go.”
Sullivan was first recorded in Tulsa’s shelter system in 2005, Rodriguez said, and his subsequent stays were recorded intermittently through 2016, with multi-yearlong gaps.
When his body was found frozen in a sleeping bag near Denver Avenue and Archer Street on the afternoon of Feb. 11, the city was about three days into sustained subfreezing temperatures that would continue for another week. His official cause of death is yet to be determined, but authorities believe he slipped away silently in the bitter cold.
His death a block from some of the city’s largest shelters for people experiencing homelessness dealt a discouraging blow to outreach teams who had already been out pleading with unsheltered individuals, but it jumpstarted a response from Tulsa at large, serving as a catalyst that likely saved countless other lives.
“That tragedy that happened on Archer really kind of served as a wake-up call for our entire community,” said Tyler Parette, outreach and engagement manager at Housing Solutions.
Tulsans came together to do everything they could to prevent further loss of life, and within three days, nearly every person in the city had a roof over their heads.
Despite the successes, Rodriguez wonders what more could have been done.
It was unclear whether the state Medical Examiner’s Office was able to make contact with Sullivan’s next-of-kin. His remains were cremated by state statute and will remain at a Tulsa funeral home for several months in case his family comes forward.
“It just breaks my heart that an individual like Vaylord who is struggling and there are services all around him … We can engage and we can encourage and we can reach out, and ultimately it’s his decision whether he wants to (seek shelter) or not,” Rodriguez said.
Sullivan’s story is not unheard of in Tulsa, but it’s also not common, Rodriguez said. He figures it’s less an issue of wanting to have a home and more an issue of giving up.
“I give up trying to make these appointments, fill these applications out, face issues with transportation,” Rodriquez said. “I think at some point people are just like, you know, I’m just going to try to survive today.”
But outreach teams never stop trying.
“Just because you said no today doesn’t mean you’re going to say no tomorrow or the next day,” Rodriguez said. “We just leave the door open.”
Mayor updates Tulsans on homeless outreach during dangerous winter weather Feb. 15
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said 250 people from encampments had found shelter through the efforts.
