Sylvia Coughlin Porter

Sylvia Patek Coughlin Porter, age 91 died April 9, 2017 in Winter Park, FL. Born in Keokuk, Iowa on November 14, 1925 and raised in Chillicothe, Missouri, Sylvia went to the University of Missouri achieving a Bachelor of Journalism degree. While at Mizzou, she became a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority, which formed the basis of many of her friendships when she married and moved to Detroit. Sylvia had a long career in Public Relations, representing such clients as the Detroit Auto Show, the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, the Michigan Design Center, Meadowbrook Music Festival and Meadowbrook Theatre, and in the process met many famous and interesting people. Known in Detroit media circles simply as “Sylvia”, she was well loved and well respected. She volunteered at the Oakland County (Michigan) Literacy Council and was active in and a past president of the Senior Women’s Club of Birmingham, MI. Sylvia had a beautiful voice and was a soloist in the Congregational Church of Birmingham, MI when it was located in an old church on Woodward Avenue in the 1950s and 1960s. In 2009 she moved to Cleveland to be near family. In her seven years there, she made many deep friendships. She moved to Winter Park, Florida in March of 2016, again, to be near family. In the past year, she has been surrounded by a larger contingency of her family who had previously been geographically distant. She was a loving, generous and caring mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and friend. Courageous in her approach to life and with an exquisite sense of beauty, she was a collector of the extraordinary and exceptional; from her beloved friends to the art and antiques she found along the way. She is survived by her four children: Paul B Coughlin of Venice, FL; Carol Coughlin Wittman (David Wittman) of Winter Park, FL; Ann Coughlin Lynch (Michael Lynch) of Rogers City, MI; and David R Coughlin (Sally Wise Coughlin) of Orange Park. FL, 15 grandchildren, five great grandchildren and 13 nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents Charles Henry Patek and Beatrice Eddy Patek, and her two brothers Byron Patek and Sherwood Patek, all of Chillicothe Missouri.

Sylvia Coughlin Porter

November 14, 1925 - April 9, 2017