May 25, 1961 – October 2, 2004
A 1979 graduate of Southeastern High School in Detroit, Ken Christopher earned a degree in business from Wayne State and worked as an accountant for the City of Detroit. He shared his passion for film with the monthly Moon-lit Movie Club he founded at Affirmations. His other community activities included AIDS Walk Detroit and Brothers United in Literary Text, a book club for gay African American men.
January 14, 1956 – May 13, 2016
Born in Coldwater, Kathy Ann Rosesiler served 23 years in the U.S. Army. Upon retirement from the military, Rodesiler took a job with South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy program as a Master Sargent Cadre and logistician. Hilda Ross, her spouse of 34 years, survived her.
May 27, 1963 – September 18, 2009
A 1981 graduate of Flint Southwestern High School, Carter Conway worked for the Hamady Brothers Grocery and the City of Flint. A familiar patron at the State Bar and Copa Nightclub, he was a pianist, choir leader, and a member of Divine Peace Metropolitan Community Church in Waterford.
Flint Journal, October 1, 2009
April 17, 1942 – October 28, 2017
A founder of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, Darlene Stille enjoyed a long career as an editor in the field of publishing in Chicago, first with Encyclopedia Britannica and later with World Book. Long active in Chicago’s LGBTQ business community, she and her partner of 40 years Cynthia Marquard retired to the small Michigan town of New Buffalo.
July 17, 1959 – December 11, 2016
Brian “Scott” Warren of Ironwood graduated from Wakefield High School and attended Northern Michigan University. He was active in local theater and music as a performer, director, and board member. Warren and his life partner of 35 years George Henkel were the first same-sex couple to be legally married in Gogebic County.
January 4, 1941 – January 9, 2018
A 1959 graduate of Holland High School, Ronald DeJonge attended Kendall School of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. A veteran of the National Guard, he later worked as a graphic designer and cabinet maker. At his death he shared a home in New Richmond with his partner Darris Chichock.
April 12, 1959 – June 20, 1993
Detroiter Pete Malek graduated from Cody High School and worked as a waiter in Phoenix, Arizona before returning to his hometown, where he was a familiar face at Tiffany’s. He died of complications from AIDS at age 34.
October 17, 1930 – July 31, 2010
JoAnn Westrick grew up in Toledo, Ohio and earned her B.S. in Nursing from Wayne State in Detroit in 1969. From 1975 to 1993 she taught on the faculty of Michigan State University college of Nursing, specializing in psychiatric mental-health nursing. She was survived by her partner of 27 years Donna Hardenberg.
April 14, 1942 – June 26, 2010
Betsy Lou Robson of Lansing worked as a bus driver for the Capital Area Transit Authority from 1973 to 2001. Following her death, her family established a scholarship in her name for LGBT students at Lansing Community College.
May 29, 1940 – April 18, 1994
Joseph LaRosa Jr. was born in Ann Arbor, graduated from Dexter High School, and attended Cleary Business School. In the early 1970s, LaRosa hosted Lillian’s Down Under in the lower level of Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit. In December 1974, he, Michael Crawford, and Hank Trent opened the former supper club Menjo’s as a gay dance club. LaRosa later operated Orca’s before moving to Phoenix.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 