April 23, 1917 – August 28, 1983
Harvey Blanchard grew up in Dexter and worked as a liquor store clerk and sales manager for a tombstone business before acquiring the Flame Bar in Ann Arbor in 1959. He went on to operate the Flame for 23 years.
Tag: Ann Arbor
Charles Tyson
April 12, 1944 – August 27, 1986
Charles Tyson served as vice president of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights in the mid-1980s. He and his business partner Kathie Dannemiller formed the consulting firm Dannemiller Tyson Associates in Ann Arbor. He was also active in the Human Rights Campaign Fund and the Republican Party.
Jim Paffenbarger
April 2, 1949 – June 30, 1996
Jim Paffenbarger, also known as Jimmy Leather, attended the University of Michigan for one year from 1967 to 1968 before going to work for radio station WABX. He soon returned to Ann Arbor where he was employed with the student station WCBN and later served as chief engineer at WUOM.
Joe LaRosa
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.
Christopher Case
October 24, 1962 – July 22, 1994
Christopher Case attended Washtenaw Community College for his LPN and worked for many years in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Hospital. Case was also active in the Ann Arbor theater scene. He died of complications from AIDS at age 31.
Ben Lowery
August 25, 1952 – May 18, 1987
Born in Ann Arbor, Ben Lowery graduated from Dundee High School in 1970 and earned his Bachelor’s in telecommunications from Michigan State University in 1980. He taught school in New Mexico before returning to Michigan to work in his father’s construction business. He died of complications from AIDS at age 34.
Dillon Ptaszek
December 13, 1987 – September 13, 2013
A graduate of Ypsilanti High School, Ann Arbor resident Dillon Ptaszek earned a degree in marine biology and was employed at the aquatics store Fish Doctors when he lost his life in an automobile accident at age 25. He was survived by Chris Kitely, his fiancé and partner of six years.
Edward Weber
September 14, 1922 – April 11, 2006
A native of Rochester, New York, Edward Weber earned his library degree from the University of Michigan in the early 1950s and went on the serve as curator of the renowned Labadie Collection from 1960 to his retirement in 2000.
Linda Lee Smith
June 15, 1950 – November 22, 2004
Known to customers as “Ma,” Linda Lee Smith of Maybee waited tables at the aut Bar in Ann Arbor for its first eight years. She was survived by four children, five grandchildren, and her life companion Terrie Slisher.
Forman Brown
January 8, 1901 – January 10, 1996
A native of Otsego, Forman Brown attended the University of Michigan in the early 1920s and, with cousin Harry Burnett and companion Roddy Brandon, formed the famed Yale Puppeteers. In his eighties, Brown revealed that he was the author of the 1933 gay novel Better Angel written under the penname Richard Meeker.
Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1996
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 