November 12, 1978 – May 9, 2021
Bay City resident Brandon Socia was born in Saginaw and attended Bay City Central High School. After working on the family potato farm growing up, he went on to cook at a number of local restaurants. Socia was survived by his partner Jordan Ward.
December 1, 1944 – December 15, 1989
A Bay City native and onetime resident of Midland and Saginaw, Joyce Kayden attended Bay City Central High School. She went on to work as assistant store manager for Rite Aid. Kayden preceded in death by her father and brother and was survived by her mother and daughter.
Bay City Times, December 17, 1989
September 1, 1988 – May 13, 2020
Kody William VanGuilder of Midland, formerly of Bay City, earned his B.A. in psychology and philosophy from Eastern Michigan University in 2010. He held jobs at Tim Hortons and McDonald’s, as well as at the University of Michigan as a teaching assistant. In 2018, VanGuilder married Alex Sage, who survives him.
January 16, 1935 – June 2, 2006
Marilyn Kay Ramm of Auburn was a graduate with the class of 1953 of Bay City Central High School. She received her nursing degree from Harper Hospital in Detroit and earned her Master’s at Wayne State University. Ramm and her partner Suzanne Slaughter were together for 35 years.
November 11, 1946 – April 28, 2009
Thomas Stephen Zimmerman was born in Chicago and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio and earned his B.S. at the University of Toledo before moving to Bay City in 1985. Together with his life partner Gary Fogelsonger, Zimmerman operated a mortuary vault company and a pet crematory. He was also CEO of Sunset Valley Crematory.
August 15, 2947 – March 17, 2005
Kenneth John Arnold was born in Detroit and graduated in 1965 from Lincoln Park High School in Lincoln Park. He later moved to Bay City and in the early 1970s, he became proprietor of Chalet Interiors in Saginaw. Often known by his drag name Bambi, Arnold took over Tallulah’s Show Bar in the 1990s and rechristened it Bambi’s Bottoms Up.
Saginaw News, March 19, 2005
February 13, 1968 – September 2, 2020
Born in Bay City, Amy Jo Lambert grew up in Midland and graduated with the class of 1986 from Dow High School. She as director of the Fun House and in recent years helped facilitate a local Superhero Training Camp for kids. Lambert was also an avid camper, hiker, and kayaker. She was survived by her partner Julie Sugar.
May 13, 1930 – June 28, 2002
Born in Kalamazoo, Frederick Allen Lake graduated with the high school class of 1949 from Bay City Central. We went on to apprenticed in the craft of organ building in Hamburg, Germany and was employed by pipe organ firms in Saginaw and Illinois before moving to San Francisco to work as a voicer for Schoenstein & Company. Lake corresponded with ONE magazine from Bay City in the mid-1960s.
September 19, 1934 – August 4, 1992
Born in Bay City, Jill Marilyn (Conway) Ramseyer graduated from the Henry Ford Hospital nursing program in 1955 and began work as an RN for the Genesee County Public Health Department in 1972. The first nurse in Flint to do HIV testing, she was founder and later president of Wellness HIV/AIDS Services. Ramseyer retired to Au Gres in 1991 and was survived by her husband and two children.
Flint Journal, August 5, 1992
May 1, 1942 – November 18, 1992
Born in Texas, Rodolfo “Rudy” Aviles grew up in Bay City and served four years in the U.S. Navy. He attended Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University and worked with the Michigan Employment Security Commission. Aviles was active in numerous civic causes, including bilingual education and raising money for Hispanic scholarships. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 50.
Bay City Times, November 18, 1992
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 