SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- Seems everybody knew, or at least knew of, 'Mrs Sioux Falls', Sylvia Henkin, dead at the age of 96.
If anybody loved this town it was Sylvia. She seemed to be everywhere, involved in everything, for decades. She arrived in Sioux Falls from Iowa in 1944 and the rest was civic history.
KELO Radio's Bill Zortman talked about her on his It's Your Business Show Tuesday morning.
"Sylvia's best quote: people let me do what I damn well please."
And she certainly did plenty. She was the first woman president of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. She founded Sioux Falls annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, and the list goes on and on and on.
KELO.com News Director Todd Epp, involved with the local Civil Air Patrol, said Sylvia was a recipient of a Congressional Gold Medal because of her work with CAP, a long time ago.
"She was a Civil Air Patrol member during World War Two. Her job, and she kinda joked about, was to fly to make sure that nobody was coming up the Missouri, or the Big Sioux, or the Des Moines Rivers, you know, the Japanese or Germans."
Sylvia Henkin, Mrs. Sioux Falls, dead at the age of 96.