September 14, 1935 – January 12, 2006
Born in Bay City, Delphine Merle “Del” Parshall graduated with the Clarkston High School class of 1952. She went on to study at Ferris State University, then known as Ferris Institute, and later taught health recreation and physical education at Northern Michigan University, where she coached the school’s first women’s basketball team in 1971. Parshall was survived by her life partner Iris Erickson.
February 3, 1938 – December 31, 2022
Violet Betty “Vy” Reed graduated with the class of 1955 from Dearborn High School. She pursued a career in education, earning her B.A. from Western Michigan University and M.A. from Michigan State, then working as a teacher and counselor in Roseville. She found community in the 1960s at Fred’s Bar and later as a member and facilitator of Silver Foxes and the Senior Koffee Klatch at Affirmations.
September 13, 1937 – December 8, 2007
Wisconsin native Robert Joseph Loescher pursued his Ph.D. in art history at the University of Michigan, where he taught in the 1960s. He later served on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for 34 years. In recognition of Loescher’s work heralding Spanish culture, King Juan Carlos of Spain granted him honorary knighthood in 1990.
December 19, 1943 – December 26, 2017
Born in Negaunee, Thomas Louis Baldini graduated from St. Paul’s High School in 1961 and earned his Bachelor’s from Northern Michigan University in 1965. He taught at Marquette Senior High for nearly 20 years and served on the Michigan Technological University Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2016. Baldini was elected to the Marquette City Council in 2014 and died a month after becoming mayor.
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.
September 26, 1945 – September 4, 2020
Hailing from Texas, Carolyn Ann Van Cleave earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Ball State. She joined the faculty of Central Michigan University in 1978, working in the counseling center, and opened her own private practice in Mount Pleasant in the mid-1980s. Van Cleave and her partner Marsha Phillips were united in marriage in 2015.
September 28, 1956 – June 1, 2017
Monroe native James Asher graduated from Monroe High School in 1974 and went on to undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University and graduate studies at California State. Prior to moving to California, he played professional tennis through racquet clubs in Bloomfield Hills and Rochester Hills. In later years he coached and taught high school English. He was survived by his partner Brent Sweer.
December 27, 1954 – July 8, 2002
Ronald Bradley Fracker of Ypsilanti was born in Jackson and graduated from Michigan Center High School in 1972 before earning his Bachelor’s from the University of Michigan. Fracker became an accomplished pianist, taught on the music faculty of Washtenaw Community College, and helped found UM’s first gay and lesbian alumni group. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 47.
Ann Arbor News, July 10, 2002
May 9, 1901 – April 6, 1968
Alma Minna Goetsch was born in Milwaukee and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to East Lansing, where she taught as an art professor at Michigan State University for 37 years. In the late 1930s, Goetsch and her partner Kathrine Winckler commissioned famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for them in Okemos. The couple moved to Arkansas upon retiring in 1965.
Lansing State Journal, April 8, 1968
May 10, 1882 – December 29, 1952
Born in the small community of LaGrange, Earle Milan Parker graduated from the University of Michigan in 1906 and taught high school Latin in Marquette before pursuing his Masters at the University of Chicago. He went on to teach at Northern Michigan College of Education, later Northern Michigan University, where he was part of a discrete circle of gay friends.
Mining Journal, December 30, 1952
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 