May 8, 1998 – July 3, 2018
Al Davey attended East Kentwood High School in Kentwood and went on to study communications and creative writing at Eastern Michigan University. They also edited Cellar Roots, the EMU literary and arts magazine and authored At the Close: A Collection of Poems. Davey was non-binary and active with the campus group QUEST, Queer Unity for Eastern Students. They took their own life at age 20.
Grand Rapids Press, July 4, 2018
October 2, 1956 – June 6, 1998
Timothy John Warady was born in Detroit and attended Lincoln Park High School. Diagnosed as HIV+ in the late 1980s, Warady became a tireless AIDS activist, volunteering and working with Friends Alliance, the NAMES Project, Wellness House, and other groups. He and his partner Robert Whitney shared a home in Lincoln Park. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 41.
April 5, 1934 – September 25, 2012
Mancelona resident Therese Marie Bluhm attended Detroit parochial schools, received her Bachelor’s at Marygrove College, and earned her Masters at the University of Detroit. After teaching public school she moved to Massachusetts in the early 1960s and had a 33-year career with the Silver Burdett Ginn textbook company. Bluhm was preceded in death by her beloved partner Elizabeth Houston.
February 2, 1944 – April 3, 1995
David John Zechel of Farmington Hills was born in Detroit and graduated from Edwin Denby High School in 1962. He went on to work as a noted local interior decorator. In the early 1970s, along with his then partner, Rev. Robert Cullinan, Zechel was an early member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 51.
Detroit Free Press, April 5, 1995
March 19, 1929 – February 17, 2020
Detroit native Susan Reeder Breuer graduated from Birmingham High School, studied at Northwestern University, was married, raised three children, and earned her Ph.D. in psychology before divorcing in the late 1970s. At her 40th high school reunion, Breuer became reacquainted Nancy Kasperzak and the two became life partners, settling In Benzie County. Kasperzak survived her by four days.
October 3, 1928 – February 21, 2020
Benzonia resident and lifelong musician Nancy Pierce Kasperzak grew up in Metro Detroit and graduated from Birmingham High School. After divorcing and with her children grown, Kasperzak joined her childhood classmate Susan Reeder Breuer to forge a life partnership. They eventually settling on Crystal Lake in Benzie County and later, for a time had a horse farm. Breuer preceded her in death by four days.
January 22, 1927 – June 1, 1989
Fredrica Kathryn Bartz graduated from Flint Central High School in 1943. After divorcing her husband, she received her B.A. from the Flint College of the University of Michigan. She later earned her M.A. at UM-Ann Arbor and her Ph.D. from MSU. She taught English at UM-Flint for 22 years, and at her death was chair of the department. Bartz shared a home in Montrose with her companion Mary Ellen Raleigh.
Memo, June 26, 1989
November 2, 1951 – January 16, 1994
Stephen Mark Kritsick grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and attended Michigan State University, earning his B.S. there in 1973 and his degree in veterinary medicine there in 1974. After working in the ER of a Manhattan animal hospital. For many years before his death, he was a regular pet care expert on Good Morning America on ABC. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 42.
Lansing State Journal, January 17, 1994
September 16, 1955 – April 19, 1993
Dallas Skeet Williams Jr., from Detroit, moved to San Francisco to live a more openly gay life. He worked as a nurse and a massage therapist and became involved in modeling, bodybuilding, doing drag, photography, and performing in adult videos. As a revolutionary HIV+ union activist, he protested with ACT UP and fought police brutality. Williams lost his life to diabetes.
April 18, 1934 – August 17, 2019
George Russell Francoeur of Bloomfield Township graduated from Highland Park High School, studied design at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, and earned his MFA from the University of Michigan. He later taught art history at Henry Ford Community College for 30 years. Francoeur was preceded in death in 2007 by his life partner of 42 years Gerald “Jerry” Earls.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 