October 19, 1949 – July 5, 2017
Born in Allegheny, Virginia, Angela Romagnoli grew up within a union family in Dearborn and retained a passion for social justice her whole life. At the University of Michigan she took part in the Students for a Democratic Society in the late 1960s and helped found the campus Radicalesbians in 1970.
September 12, 1945 – May 24, 2008
A Detroit native and a 1964 graduate of Livonia Bentley High School, Nancy Fitzgerald earned her Associate’s degree from Lansing Community College and her B.S. from Spring Arbor College in 1998. She worked as an LPN and held a number of management positions in health care and insurance. An avid motorcyclist, Fitzgerald and her partner Lisa Whitehead shared a home in Eaton Rapids.
Lesbian Connection, September/October 2008
January 26, 1952 – May 23, 1993
Royal Oak resident Russell Bowman Jr. was born in Detroit and grew up in Grosse Pointe, where he graduated from Grosse Pointe High School. Bowman had a long career as an interior decorator and for many years was active in the local leather community, holding the title of Mr. Michigan Leather for 1988-89. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 41.
August 7, 1952 – January 12, 2012
Detroiter Leon Smith attended Murray-Smith High School and became active in the local LGBT community in the 1980s. He helped launch the Men of Color Motivational Group, was one of the original organizers of the Hotter Than July pride celebration, and took part in a support group for HIV+ men sponsored by what was then known as Kick!.
March 3, 1926 – May 4, 2018
Shirley Schick had to drop out of Marshall High School during World War II to help run the family farm. Schick was a trained pilot and for nearly 30 years, she and her life partner Margret Kellogg grew orchids in Washington State. In 1998 they retired to a 12-acre home back in Michigan.
August 11, 1933 – April 28, 2007
Osseo resident Beverly Alleger was a school bus driver before becoming of surveyor for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, where she worked for 25 years. She was a strong supporter of animal rights. Alleger met her life partner Bobbi Byrd in 1977 through her involvement in Lansing’s lesbian community and the two had a commitment ceremony for their 20th anniversary.
Lesbian Connection, July-August 2007
January 23, 1937 – June 26, 1996
A native of the Isabella County town of Weidman, Bob Gross covered high school sports for the Lansing State Journal for 34 years and lived a largely closeted life. In 1996, he was murdered by a young man he picked up at Stober’s Bar. Gross was posthumously inducted into the Greater Lansing Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
August 12, 1993 – December 26, 2014
Cody Petzold was valedictorian of his class at Holly High School in 2011 and went on to become a student leader and LGBT activist at Oakland University. In addition to studying human resources, he served as the vice president of the campus Gay Straight Alliance and interned with the Chrysler Corporation.
December 12, 1968 – January 18, 2014
Theresa Fabus was born in Alma and graduated from Ashley High School in 1987. She went on to attend Alma College and Lansing Community College and later worked as a sports writer for the Meridian Weekly. Fabus and her partner Traci Gulick shared a home in Ovid.
December 1, 1960 – December 4, 1994
Detroit native Roger Alan McKinney graduated from Fraser High School in 1979. McKinney bartended at the Back Pocket and the CCW in the early 1980s before moving to South Haven, where he worked as a nurse’s aide at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 34.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 