October 26, 1942 – January 15, 2018
Traverse City resident Gwen Sanford grew up in Grand Rapids, studied at Grand Rapids Junior College and Valparasio Technical Institute, and served as a trooper and diving instructor with the Michigan State Police from 1966 to 1992. After retiring, the former Glenn transitioned to Gwen and later served on the board of Friends North. Sanford was survived by her wife Carol Larson and three children.
June 20, 1935 – November 17, 2018
Born in Detroit, Frances Suzanne Moore moved to California at age 22, served as a journalist in the U.S. Navy, and worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab of California Tech. As an activist in San Diego, she cared for patients with AIDS and served as chair of the local Gay Academic Union. Moore was preceded in death by her wife and partner of 27 years Charlynn Johnson.
October 17, 1954 – December 11, 2018
Gary Scott Davis, a resident of Palm Springs, California since 2004, attended the Grand Rapids public schools and graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He had a long career with the Blackmer division of Dover manufacturers in Grand Rapids. Davis met his future husband Eric Duran in the early 1980s and the two were together more than 35 years.
December 24, 1959 – September 19, 2018
Lifelong Laingsburg resident Carrie Lynn Koonter played on the 1978 Michigan Class D High School Softball championship team and was co-founder of the Laingsburg Women’s Golf League. She worked for 25 years at Meijer in East Lansing. She and Mary McDougal were together more than 30 years and were married in 2015. Koonter died at age 58 following an extended battle with multiple sclerosis.
July 21, 1930 – March 13, 2018
Betsy Ann Boyette was born in rural North Carolina and served as a radio operator in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War before attending DeVry Technical Institute in Chicago as its first female graduate. In the mid-1980s, she started her own interior decorator business, retiring to Saugatuck in 2002. Boyette and her spouse Dianne Wendt were together 43 years and married in 2015.
Commercial Record, March 22, 2018
November 18, 1955 – May 18, 2018
Detroit native Margaret Irene “Peggy” McNichol graduated from Mercy High School in Farmington Hills in 1973 and earned her B.S. in nursing from the University of Michigan in 1977. Following graduation, she relocated to the West Coast and lived in Seattle, Oakland, and Portland. McNichol went to medical for her M.D. and became a family care physician. She was survived by her wife Sue Sell.
April 29, 1949 – January 25, 2018
A native of Warren, Ohio, Rev. Senia Taipale attended Wittenberg University and earned her Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. After moving to Michigan, she became Director of Pastoral Care at Sparrow Hospital in 1992, a position she held for 18 years. She and Jo Hartwell, her life partner of 31 years, were married in December 2015.
April 10, 1947 – February 4, 2018
Paulettia Ann French of Kalamazoo, originally from Arkansas, graduated with the class of 1965 from Berrien Springs High School and later worked as non-profit directors for senior services. French and her partner of 27 years Tammy Vollrath were married in 2016.
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.
July 18, 1962 – December 5, 2018
Deborah Jo “Debbie” Goodnough was born in Escanaba and resided in Clyde Township. She married her longtime partner Angela Sarazin in Port Huron in 2016. Goodnough worked at Subway and was a devoted fan of the New York Yankees.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 