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
February 4, 1938 – February 27, 2009
Portia June Fagan was born in Kalamazoo, attended Richland High School, graduated from Western Michigan University, and had a long career as a tax preparer and real estate broker. In 1994, she came out as lesbian in the Kalamazoo Gazette to “break down stereotypes.” Fagan and her life partner Janice O’Dell retired to Arizona in the early 2000s.
September 23, 1948 – August 7, 2012
Kalamazoo nutritionist Diana Zhenhua Artz-Iffland earned her B.S. from Western Michigan University and her M.S. from Michigan State University. She was a longtime member of the People’s Church and, with her life partner River Artz-Iffland, was active in the pioneering local lesbian organization Lavender Morning. For 18 years the couple operated Pandora’s Books for Open Minds.
February 22, 1938 – August 26, 1981
Douglas Lauren Niles graduated with the Flint Central High School class of 1956 and operated hair salons in downtown Flint for more than 20 years. He was long active in local community theater and civic ballet. Niles was found shot to death in his car.
Flint Journal, August 27, 1981
April 1, 1957 – January 4, 2015
Kevin James Rogers was born and grew up in Clinton Township in Macomb County. He resided in Lincoln Park and Detroit before moving to Ferndale, where he co-chaired Keep Our Human Rights, a group formed to combat a ballot campaign to rescind Ferndale’s newly enacted non-discrimination ordinance in 1999. Rogers owned and operated Just 4 Us in Ferndale from 2004 until his death.
September 5, 1951 – August 3, 2009
Muskegon resident Daniel Chambers spent summers on Mackinac Island while growing up in Dearborn and earned his degree in fine arts from Wayne State University. As owner of his own design business, he created interiors for residential and commercial clients on Mackinac Island and in west Michigan. Chambers and his life partner Terry MacAllister were together 28 years.
December 16, 1961 – October 21. 2007
Troy resident and Detroit native Daniel Kevin Majewski earned Associates degrees in culinary arts and accounting. He and his partner Frank Blondale operated a bakery from 1985 to 1994 and, beginning in 1991, co-owned the Detroit Eagle. Both were active supporters of local LGBTQ organizations, including the Forum Foundation and the Triangle Foundation. Their partner Thomas Stabnicki also survived him.
October 15, 1916 – October 2, 2010
Chester James “Chet” Sampson of Los Angeles was born in Hubbell and attended Michigan Tech before transferring to the University of Michigan. During World War II he produced variety shows in the U.S. Navy. He later taught high school in Grosse Pointe before opening his own travel agency. In 1965, he founded ONE in Detroit, only the second formal homosexual organization in Michigan.
Grosse Pointe News, November 4, 2010
December 23, 1946 – March 14, 2011
Judith Slotkin of Bloomfield Hills and formerly of Detroit was marketing manager for Show Tech Presentation Systems and later ran her own consulting firm. A volunteer fundraiser for WTVS-TV, the Music Hall, and Michigan Opera Theater, she was also actively involved in the Jewish Gay Network of Michigan. Slotkin was survived by her life partner of Anne Adelson.
December 5, 1932 – February 19, 2014
Born in East Grand Rapids, John “Jack” Campbell attended the University of Michigan for a year before finishing his B.A. in accounting at Kent State. In 1965 he opened the Club Baths in Cleveland, the launch of a national chain of gay bath houses. Later in Miami, he helped lead resistance to Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” crusade. Campbell remained active in Democratic Party politics throughout his life.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 