Elizabeth Sullivan was born on March 14, 1910, at Rochelle, Illinois, and spent all but a short period of her youth there. After receiving a bachelors degree in home economics from Rockford College, she worked as a dietician in hospitals in Chicago, Niagara Falls, New York, and Akron, Ohio, followed by employment at the Columbus, Ohio, Milk Council and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. In 1945, she accepted an offer from the directors of a newly-created Dairy Council of Milwaukee to become that organization's first executive director. In 1952 Miss Sullivan resigned to take other employment but she returned to the Milwaukee Council in 1964 where she remained executive director until her retirement in 1971.
