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Franklin, who worked for decades as an energetic and much-loved advocate for seniors in Connecticut, had a lifelong mission to bring people together across borders of age, culture and religion. She was best-known as the founding director of the Stamford Senior Center, as well as serving a four-year term on the state Commission on Aging.
In a letter supporting that appointment, a bipartisan group of all eight state legislators from Stamford wrote a letter unanimously proclaiming her “a visionary and a tireless force for seniors.” Franklin’s work at the center earned her the title of Outstanding Community Leader of the Year from the Stamford Advocate in 2001. She retired from the center in 2010 after 14 years, but kept up a busy pace.
Prior to her work with seniors, Franklin worked just as hard in the mental health field, spending 11 years at the Hall-Brooke Foundation in Westport, which provided psychiatric and substance abuse treatment for teens and adults, working her way up from unpaid volunteer to the executive post of director of community services, responsible for a $350,000 budget.
Franklin is survived by a brother, Tom Warschauer; son Jim Franklin; son Jeff Franklin (Dana); daughter Jennifer Krulewitch (Dan), and two grandchildren, C.J. and Drew Krulewitch.
She was predeceased by her husband John Franklin.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 8 at the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation in Stamford, with a reception afterward at the Stamford Senior Center.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Stamford Senior Center or the nonprofit Pet Partners, which promotes animal-assisted therapy, activities and education.
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