May 17, 1962 – January 26, 1995
Born in Ann Arbor, David Bruce Goff grew up in South Lyon and graduated from Manchester High School in 1980 before joining the U.S. Navy. He later worked as a mechanic and apartment manager. He also volunteered with Wellness Networks and was active in the Detroit area leather community. Goff was preceded in death by his lover Rudy Sepulvada. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 32.
October 2, 1950 – October 15, 2017
A native of Traverse City and graduate of the Traverse City Schools, Bonnie Jean Purvis attended Central Michigan University and worked for more than three decades as a lab technician at Traverse City Osteopathic Hospital, later Munson Medical Center, retiring in 2013. An avid golfer, biker, and kayaker, Purvis was survived by Tammy Krentz, her spouse and loving partner of 36 years.
December 16, 1961 – October 21. 2007
Troy resident and Detroit native Daniel Kevin Majewski earned Associates degrees in culinary arts and accounting. He and his partner Frank Blondale operated a bakery from 1985 to 1994 and, beginning in 1991, co-owned the Detroit Eagle. Both were active supporters of local LGBTQ organizations, including the Forum Foundation and the Triangle Foundation. Their partner Thomas Stabnicki also survived him.
August 17, 1959 – May 1, 2018
Suzan Ruth Selewski of Taylor graduated from Riverside High School in Dearborn Heights. For 18 years she taught at Logan Elementary School in Detroit. She retired in 2013, preceding a long battle with ovarian cancer. Selewski was survived by her spouse and life partner of 23 years Julia Herod.
April 8, 1913 – January 22, 2008
Lucile “Porty” Portwood was a native of Fort Worth, Texas and studied microbiology at Michigan State University, where she discovered a vaccine for whooping cough. She later oversaw vaccine production for the State of Michigan. Long active in the Lansing lesbian community, she was also a litigant in court challenge of Michigan’s sodomy law. Portwood was survived by her life partner Alixandra Summitt.
Lesbian Connection, May/June 2008
February 13, 1940 – March 25, 2016
Donald Edward True grew up in Harbor Beach in Michigan’s Thumb and attended Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic High School. Following graduation, he moved to New York City, where he operated Country City glassware in Manhattan from 1963 to 2012. True married his life partner of more than 50 years Angelo Tufarelli in September 2015. Tufarelli survived him by one month.
November 3, 1942 – November 7, 2010
Born in Detroit and a graduate of Lincoln Park High School, Troy resident Thomas J. Moore III earned his M.B.A. from Wayne State University. He worked as a data consultant for General Motors. Moore and his surviving life partner of 40 years Dwight Rinke were supporters of the Triangle Foundation and the Forum Foundation.
September 2, 1955 – October 22, 2009
Randall Lee Seager, familiar to fans as Bucky, was longtime DJ in the 1980s and early 19980s at the Copa nightclub in Flint. He grew up in Burton Township and Mundy Township and graduated in 1973 from Grand Blanc High School, where he sang in the Mixed Chorus and the Acapella Choir. Later in life Seager worked as a cashier at Kroger.
April 3, 1936 – September 10, 2010
Born in Detroit, poet, activist, and educator Judy Freespirit studied drama and speech at Michigan State University. After being heterosexually married, she came out in the feminist movement in California. In 1973, Freespirit coauthored the Fat Liberation Manifesto and in 1978 helped defeat the Briggs’ Initiative. Among her other publications was the 1982 chapbook Daddy’s Girl: An Incest Survivor’s Story.
October 15, 1916 – October 2, 2010
Chester James “Chet” Sampson of Los Angeles was born in Hubbell and attended Michigan Tech before transferring to the University of Michigan. During World War II he produced variety shows in the U.S. Navy. He later taught high school in Grosse Pointe before opening his own travel agency. In 1965, he founded ONE in Detroit, only the second formal homosexual organization in Michigan.
Grosse Pointe News, November 4, 2010
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 