September 23, 1938 – February 3, 2019
Born in Lewiston, Idaho, Carl Ivan Jennings served in the U.S. Air Force before making his way to Michigan, where, in the late 1960s, he met his life partner and later husband Lawrence Gammons. In 1981, they opened Douglas Dunes Resort and in 2012 helped to found West Shore AWARE. The two were featured in the 2015 WGVU documentary Michigan Hometown Stories: Saugatuck/Douglas.
Holland Sentinel, February 6, 2019
Commercial Record, February 7, 2019
July 8, 1942 – March 11, 2019
Frankfort resident Kathleen June Blake was a native of Massachusetts and earned her Bachelor’s from the New Bedford Institute of Technology. A longtime Lansing resident, she spent much of her career in state government as an economic development officer. Blake served on the board for the Lesbian Connection and was survived by her partner Julann McFarlane.
Lansing State Journal, March 16, 2019
Lesbian Connection, July/August 2019
February 7, 1991 – January 24, 2019
Grosse Pointe Woods resident Nathan DeWayne Strickland Jr. earned his Bachelor’s in forensic psychology from Tiffin University in 2013 and his Master’s in community counseling from Oakland University in 2016. Strickland worked with LGBT Detroit and the Community Health Awareness Group, was active in Hotter Than July, and attended the First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Detroit.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 