Rebecca Elizabeth Worrell Franke

Rebecca Worrell Franke passed away, by accidental death, on January 27, 2026, in Beech Grove, Indiana. She was 42.

My husband, David Worrell, and I first met Rebecca when she was 18 months old and in a foster home. We learned that Rebecca had a tough start in life. She was born prematurely, failed to thrive in her first three months, and then was abandoned to the county welfare department. Her foster care family loved and nurtured her for over a year, and restored her health. We were immediately captivated by the petite redhead, dubbed a “firecracker“ by her doctors. She had a spirited and outgoing personality. David and I adopted her in 1985, and were very happy to add her to our extended families; the Worrell’s in Indiana and the Bowman’s in Walnut Creek, California.

Rebecca attended Amy Beverland elementary, Belzer middle, and Cathedral and Lawrence Central high schools. She volunteered at the Indianapolis Zoo and Community North Hospital and worked part-time in high school. At that time she adopted the nickname “Beki”. After completing her GED program, she continued to work various part-time jobs. She enjoyed animals, dancing, nature and her Honda Civic, and was rarely without a companion cat.

Unfortunately, she struggled with mental health disorders and alcoholism. Her infant experience of abandonment took its toll, and in 2007 she was given Social Security disability status for her mental health challenges.

In 2009 she gave birth to her own beautiful baby girl, Brienna Elizabeth Kelly. With the support of a program for “at risk mothers“, she had been able to maintain sobriety through her pregnancy, an achievement for which she was very proud. Yet she struggled to care for Brienna, and in 2011 she asked her parents to become Brienna’s guardians.

Beki was always part of Brienna’s life; sharing their love of fashion, make up, music and animals. She worked to be a mother in the ways that she could. But the riptides of the diseases of mental illness and addiction and the death of her father, David Worrell, in January 2017, devastated her.

I am deeply grateful for my time with Beki, during both her successes and struggles. She is survived by her daughter, Brienna Elizabeth Kelley, her brother, Matthew Worrell, many aunts, uncles and cousins, and me, her mother, Laura Worrell.