January 6, 1956 – October 29, 2014
Saginaw native Thomas Lohr Jr. graduated from Eisenhower High School and earned a B.A. in marketing at Michigan State University in 1979. After a successful career in advertising in Chicago, he joined his life partner Roger Boike in operating Groundworkes, a landscaping business in Lakeside, Michigan. Lohr was also actively involved in Chicago’s LGBTQ community, participating in two AIDS Rides bicycle fundraisers.
January 29, 1956 – January 20, 2011
West Bloomfield resident and University of Michigan football fan Heather Louise Higgins hosted popular Port of Call parties at her home on Middle Straits Lake, enjoying water skiing and riding on her pontoon. Since 2003, she was the owner of Tis Herself Entertainment. Higgins died from cancer at age 54.
Lesbian Connection, July/August 2011
February 11, 1956 – April 8, 2014
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Victor Line was longtime co-owner with his life partner Robert Wiley of Tradewinds nightclub and Triangle World bookstore in Kalamazoo. Both were also strong supporters of what was then known as the Kalamazoo Gay/Lesbian Resource Center.
January 18, 1925 – September 4, 2015
Kenneth Garnett grew up in Bay City and for many decades owned and operated the Art Shoppe in Flint. Toward the end of his life, he was a familiar face at the Pachyderm Pub. Garnett was preceded in death by his life partner of 47 years Beverley Dunnington Wayt Jr. in 1994.
July 16, 1945 – February 18, 2017
Mary Barbara Virginia Banister, co-owner with her life partner Wendy Robertson of the Touch of Country Mall, was born in Detroit and later lived in Warren before moving to Howell in 1972. Before acquiring the antique mall, she worked for various lumber, hardware, and nursery stores. Banister was a devoted member of Hardy United Methodist Church.
February 27, 1962 – January 6, 2014
Birmingham resident Todd Glenn Lloyd was born in Mount Pleasant and graduated from Clare High School. He owned and operated the rental company Chair Covers & Linens in Madison Heights. Lloyd and his partner of 10 years Christopher Neumann perished in a single-engine plane crash.
August 19, 1948 – July 19, 2014
A mother and grandmother, Margaret Lillian Boes owned and operated Paper Moon Decorating in Grand Rapids for more than four decades. She shared a home with Tami Groothuis, her life partner of 25 years, and enjoyed fishing and camping on Gun Lake in southwestern lower Michigan.
July 13, 1951 – January 23, 2015
Activist, artist, and entrepreneur owner Christine Johnson was born in Cincinnati and moved to Chicago, where she co-founded the Metis Press Collective, a lesbian feminist publisher. She met her life partner of 34 years Nancy Poore in 1981 and the two later moved to west Michigan. The couple rented vacation cottages and operated a kayak rental business.
Grand Rapids Press, January 27, 2015
Lesbian Connection, May/June 2015
Nancy Poore & Chris Johnson video interview at Chicago Gay History
March 11, 1934 – December 14, 2009
Joanne Rettke earned her doctorate at Michigan State University, where she served as director of the Women’s Resource Center. She helped found First Friday gatherings in the Lansing area in the mid-1970s and in 1977 played a key role in inaugurating Everywomen’s Weekend. Rettke retired to Glen Arbor, where she ran the Duneswood retreat with Marge Ives, her partner of 34 years.
Glen Arbor Sun, January 10, 2010
Lesbian Connection, March/April 2010
October 24, 1927 – July 6, 1961
Born in Detroit, William John Cornell attended Wayne University and, as one of city’s premier theatrical press agents in the 1950s, represented various stars when they visited the Motor City, including Ethel Merman and Marlena Dietrich. Cornell and his partner Peter Prass were killed when a fire gutted their Chicago Boulevard apartment.
Detroit Free Press, July 7, 1961
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 