Sylvia Jane Benson Frank made her grand entrance into this world on June 27, 1937, to Henry Sylvester Benson and Laura Mauck. Her parents had gone to their country cottage in Owensville, IN for the weekend and Sylvia did not want to miss the fun, so she made her entrance unexpectedly in a log cabin next to an alfalfa field, humble beginnings indeed. Her parents took her home to Vincennes, IN where she was introduced to her half-brother Herbert "Brownie" Gottfried and about fifteen months later the family was joined by Sylvia's first partner in crime, her sister Kathleen "Kathy" Benson Smith who completed their family. The family made Vincennes their home until Sylvia was in seventh grade and by her accounts, life there was very happy. A surprise to no one who knows her, at an early age Sylvia was the instigator of much fun and many adventures in the years in Vincennes that included lemonade stands, making fudge, playing until dark, and just spending time with friends in general. In her own words, "I loved people. Friends were very important to me," words surely written on her heart for she lived them her whole life. Much to Sylvia's dismay at the age of 12 her parents announced that they would be moving the family to Owensville, IN. Young Sylvia already had many plans including joining Jobs Daughters and no doubt a social calendar full through her high school graduation, but instead she found herself right back next to that alfalfa field, though the house had been expanded to make a more fitting home for the boisterous Benson girls. Her parents let her join Jobs Daughters to keep one foot in Vincennes but Sylvia admits that the move to Owensville would prove to be a good one and she loved her home and the friends that she made there. Sylvia was active and accomplished in many clubs and organizations, too many to list, but the one with the biggest impact was Hi-Y Tri-Hi-Y which she and Kathy joined and became State officers. Through this group when she graduated, they embarked on a trip to the international conference. They hopped on a ship named the Italia out of New York City and were off on a whirlwind trip that included visiting eight countries and in true Sylvia fashion befriending countless people along the way. The highlights of the trip included meeting a group of Moroccans, including the Crown Prince, running out of money and borrowing $25 from a Harlem Globetrotter that they happened to meet, wandering the streets of Paris lost for the better part of an evening with a kindly police officer trying to help them find their hotel, taking a "short cut" that took them into Scotland Yards, and speaking German with German Children in the Alps which would later ignite a love of the German language in her. Returning from their adventures, Sylvia set out on her next adventure heading off to Stephens College in Columbia, MO where she received her AA degree and working with the Department of the Navy during the Summer typing a prescribed, prewritten letter - a job that didn't do much to recommend itself to the bright and lively mind of Sylvia but afforded her the opportunity to live with friends in Washington, DC. During those Summers she had a very active social life, which included spending time with her friends cementing those friendships for the rest of her life. During that time Sylvia met a not yet famous Warren Beatty who dated one of her friends, a tidbit she liked to drop into conversation with a smile and a twinkle in her eye but that she would then move on from quickly saying little else. After Stephens there was a misspent year at Purdue University, it is one of the few periods of her life in which Sylvia had very little to say other than she got the flu and came home early and decided not to return. Her love for Purdue was constant but it apparently was not the school for her. To recover from this disappointment, she went off on another adventure this time to Jamaica to stay with family friends who were missionaries where she made friends from many cultures. She diligently did her duties of teaching teachers how to teach the Bible Study materials and in her spare time she gave tours of the islands and danced the night away. After her six months in Jamaica, Sylvia returned to the States and spent some time traveling and visiting friends before she returned to Washington, DC where she would make a home and, of course, many, many friends. By all accounts she remained a great instigator of fun and a tremendous hostess, rubbing elbows with some names that other people were sometimes impressed by like Peter Dawkins who was apparently an important football player but the names she said often and cherished the most were those of her many partners in crime who she celebrated with. These ladies, well established with a reputation for throwing a good party, often had party crashers to contend with, once to the tune of some 300 people who would talk about that party for months afterward. Always on a quest for the next great adventure, Sylvia struck out from Washington DC with a friend and headed to New Orleans, LA where she worked various odd jobs, and no doubt made many friends along the way. Again, her lively mind was not challenged by the jobs she picked up through temp work, so she returned home with her eye on a college degree which she obtained from Evansville College where she completed a degree in Sociology and a minor in German in 1963. In addition to a degree Sylvia had a new found passion for school and learning so she went back to New Orleans and enrolled in Tulane where she completed a Master's Degree in Social Work in 1965 and went to work for the New Orleans Mental Health Center. She applied for a job with the Veterans Administration, which she got and it changed her life twice over by stoking the fires of her love of travel but also by introducing her to the love of her life, Edward Thomas "Todd" Frank, Jr. After a year at the VA, Sylvia applied to go to the International Conference in Washington DC and while there she learned of a program that would allow her to use her German to go to Germany for six months. The VA was somewhat resistant to letting her have the six months but as was the case with most people there was very little that could stand in the way of a determined Sylvia and off she went with an assurance that her VA job would be there for her when she came back. Of all her international travel, it was her time in Germany that Sylvia spoke of the most often. She taught the German Psychiatrists about Group Therapy and "Teamwork" and in return she traveled all over Germany, being wined and dined and leaving many new friends in her wake. Shortly after her return from Germany as life was settling into something looking more like a routine, some guy named Todd called to ask her out on a date. Sylvia had no idea who Todd was, until he explained he was Dr. Frank from the VA, and she agreed to go on a date with him, the first of many dates. They found they had a great deal in common and greatly enjoyed each other's company so after three years they got married in Las Vegas in 1971. Life with Todd would prove to be a grand adventure of a very different sort. Together they bought and remodeled homes across three states, homes that Sylvia decorated beautifully and filled constantly with friends and fun. While Todd certainly didn't coin the phrase "Happy Wife, Happy Life" that certainly was the philosophy he lived by there was very little he wasn't willing to do for his beloved Sylvia. They expanded their family, first to include a Giant Schnauzer named Hans and with that being so successful they decided to add two daughters as well - Julia and Elizabeth. Their family complete, there were many adventures to be had together! Life for the Franks was a glorious adventure! Sylvia burned up the roads taking her girls to classes and activities with no complaints, she encouraged her family in all things - Todd in his work, her girls in every endeavor that they undertook. She and Elizabeth shared a special love for ballet and drove all over the country for dance programs and found wonderful lifelong friends, especially amongst their ballet family in Mobile. Her house and table were open to friends and once you had a seat at the table, you were family, and hearts and doors were always open to you. When her girls would call to ask if they could bring someone home for dinner on a weeknight or for Christmas, she always responded by saying there is always room for more at the table. The Christmas holidays were when Sylvia's light shone the brightest. Her house was a magical place - a veritable forest of Christmas trees in every room, halls decked with twinkle lights and greenery around every corner, and the occasional shocking elf hiding in a corner. For Christmas, more than any other holiday, she threw wide the doors and expanded the family to include anyone who needed a home for Christmas. (A philosophy Julia took a special delight in testing with frantic phone calls on Christmas eve about someone she had found with no place to go.) No matter when the invitations were extended people always arrived to find Sylvia had made Christmas magic happen and there was always a place card at the table and something under the tree for them. Around 1994, Sylvia was able to take an early retirement from the VA and make the focus of her life the things that had always been the most important to her - her friends and family. This was the period when she and Elizabeth were the most active with Ballet, while Dad continued his work in Mobile. When Elizabeth stepped out the safety of the nest to have her own grand adventures at college, Syliva pivoted beautifully to focus on volunteering with the Ballet in Mobile, enjoying reading and traveling with the Bookies a book club with very dear friends, and then ultimately getting reacquainted with her first love - travel. She and Todd started with road trips from one end of the country to the other and then after marrying off two daughters in under a year, hopped on the Queen Mary and embarked on several years of world cruises. They went round the world several times and as always, Sylvia met new people and heard their stories and made friends everywhere she went. Sylvia loved to return home from her travels with treasures for her expanded family that now included not just daughters but beautiful twin granddaughters. Her girls got tee shirts, toys, and other clothes from every corner of the globe. In true Sylvia fashion if you asked for something specific, she would embark on a heroic quest to find it, braving the shops in England looking for Irish Rugby Gear or looking for kit kats in Japan. She always came back with the requested item and usually a wonderful tale to tell. There was never really a quiet time in Sylvia's life, if she was not traveling the world with her beloved Todd, she was surrounded by friends and family. She loved the cacophony of her granddaughters running through the house or the laughter of good friends, she threw wide the doors always, welcoming others in. Not one to be left behind, Syliva followed Todd on their next great adventure together on 23 March 2024, after 52 years together 22 days was long enough to be separated. She was at her home in Gulf Breeze, with her daughters and her standard poodle Coco who had been a constant source of joy for her through the last few years. Sylvia is survived by daughters, Julia (Jeremy) Frank Miller and Elizabeth Frank Cichostepski; granddaughters, Caitlyn Cichostepski, Claire Cichostepski, Lyanna Miller, and Evangeline Miller; as well as the Smith nieces and nephews in Indiana and their spouses and grandnieces. She also leaves behind beloved lifelong friends that she long ago established as family and other friends that she held dear to her heart, she will be missed by too many people to count and too many to try to name. Visitation will be held 1:00pm until a Celebration of Life Service to begin at 2:00pm Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church. A commital for her and her husband will be held at Benson Cemetery in Owensville on Sunday, August 18, 2024 at 10:00 A.M. with Kristy Pflug officiating.