Loretta Sullivan

Loretta Sullivan, who met her American husband-to-be in Scotland, where she grew up and where he was stationed with the Navy at Holy Loch, died at home in Montauk on May 16 of complications of a stroke at the age of 80. She had been ill for only a month.

Mrs. Sullivan was a Montauk Fire Department pioneer — the first female firefighter, cardiopulmonary resuscitation instructor, and emergency medical technician. She also was the first chairwoman of its ambulance squad and the first woman to win election as a commissioner of the department, serving for two terms. Her daughter, Julia Smith of Montauk, said that one of her mother’s proudest moments was delivering a baby during one of her calls.

Alan Burke, a Montauk E.M.T. for the last 44 years, said Mrs. Sullivan “wasn’t afraid of anything, and she was a lot of fun to work with. . . . She was first to volunteer for everything and anything.”

Mrs. Sullivan arrived in Montauk in 1970 with her husband, the late Ronald E. Sullivan, whom she married on March 24, 1963, and their two children. He died in December 2012. Once in Montauk, she helped her husband establish and work at his welding and dive salvage business. Before settling there, however, the family had lived in Scotland and Cadiz, Spain, as well as Biloxi, Miss., Charleston, S.C., and New London, Conn. Her father-in-law, a retired police officer, had moved to Montauk from Manhattan and her husband wanted his children to go to school there.

She was born in Glasgow on Oct. 1, 1936, one of three children of the former Julia Goodall and John Jack McAdam. She went to school there and obtained an associate’s degree in business at the University of Glasgow, going to work at McKellar and Watts, a food distribution company.

In addition to volunteering for the Fire Department, Mrs. Sullivan was active in the Montauk Community Church, singing in its choir for more than 40 years and serving as a deacon, clerk of the session, and a Sunday school teacher. She also was a Boy Scout troop leader.

Ms. Smith said her mother loved her family and had a “great sense of humor and loved to laugh.” She had not understood her mother’s penchant for volunteering, she said, until she traveled with her in 2015 to Scotland, where she realized that people there are kind, and volunteering is what they do.

Her mother was athletic and adept at golfing, badminton, and bowling, and she enjoyed gardening and traveling, Ms. Smith said.

In addition to her daughter and a granddaughter, Mrs. Sullivan is survived by a son, Edward Sullivan of Montauk, as well as nieces and nephews in Scotland. A brother, George McAdam of Cumbernauld, Scotland, also survives. Another brother, Ian McAdam of Tollcross, Scotland, died in 2016.

A funeral service was held on Sunday at the Montauk Community Church, with the Rev. Bill Hoffman officiating. Mrs. Sullivan was buried next to her husband at Montauk’s Fort Hill Cemetery. The family has suggested memorial contributions to the church, P.O. Box 698, Montauk 11954.