April 25, 1950 – January 21, 1991
Randy Hutton McGinn of Key West, Florida graduated with the Owosso High School class of 1968 and went on to attend Michigan State University and the Virginia Ferrell School of Cosmetology in St. Clair Shores. McGinn owned Randy’s Coiffer’s in Owosso and previously operated The Ultimate Image in Lansing. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 40.
Key West Citizen, January 22, 1991
March 8, 1954 – March 27, 2013
Karen C_____ was born in Goodrich and grew up in Ortonville. She was later heterosexually married, raised two children, and for 13 years operated her own restaurant. At the time of her death at age 59, she resided in Spring Hill, Florida. She was survived by her partner Tammy.
Oakland Press, March 29, 2013
December 4, 1949 – May 17, 1993
Born in Flint, Frank Bradford McMinn, who went by Brad, graduated from Grand Blanc High School in 1968 and earned his B.A. in history from the University of Michigan-Flint in 1972. Following college, McMinn taught school in Flint until moving in 1978 to Washington, DC, where he worked in the national headquarters of the American Red Cross. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 43.
July 27, 1933 – March 22, 2019
Margaret “Peg” Powell was born in Lansing and served as an MP with the Women’s Army Corps during the Korean War. She raised her younger sister and two children of her own and studied to become an LPN, specializing in hospice care. Powell was active in Lansing’s lesbian community in the 1970s and 1980s before moving to Wisconsin. She was survived by Mary Kay Schleiter, her partner of 32 years.
Lesbian Connection, November/December 2019
March 5, 1944 – December 23, 2018
Grand Rapids native Tess Wiseheart graduated from Ottawa High School and earned her Bachelor’s at Olivet College. She began her teaching career in Milford and later taught in Grand Rapids, where she was a founding member of Aradia. For 20 years she served as coordinator for the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. After moving to Oregon in 1988, Wiseheart directed the Portland Women’s Crisis Line.
February 18, 1951 – November 2, 1989
Donald Lee “Don” DeMorrow Jr. was born in and grew up in Benton Harbor. Following high school, from 1969 to 1971, he served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy. Three years later he settled in California. DeMorrow met his lover Hess Davison in 1979 and the two shared a home in Guernesville, north of San Francisco. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 38.
September 29, 1957 – January 8, 1994
Detroit native Jeffrey Louis Schoch graduated with the class of 1975 from Henry Ford High School and later attended Tri-State University in Indiana. Schoch moved to Texas in 1980 and worked as a seller for a meat broker in San Antonio before returning to Michigan to live with his mother in the last months of his life. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 36.
Detroit Free Press, January 14, 1994
March 23, 1960 – March 8, 2020
Longtime African American LGBTQ activist and Chicago resident Marcus Zohntell Loveless graduated from Redford High School in 1978 and earned his Bachelor’s from Wayne State University. In 1988, he helped form the Michigan Lesbian/Gay Democratic Caucus. Loveless was later an instrumental force with the Detroit Area Gay/Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and active in the founding of Affirmations.
July 9, 1903 – July 18, 1995
Born in Menominee in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Leo Adams moved in his 20s to Chicago, where he managed the Chicago Theatre. He moved to New York City in 1928 and oversaw the shift from silent to sound for Fox movie houses. Adams later worked as an executive with Macy’s flagship department store. He bequeathed his extensive correspondence with other gay men to the New York Public Library.
New York Times, July 23, 1995
June 20, 1935 – November 17, 2018
Born in Detroit, Frances Suzanne Moore moved to California at age 22, served as a journalist in the U.S. Navy, and worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab of California Tech. As an activist in San Diego, she cared for patients with AIDS and served as chair of the local Gay Academic Union. Moore was preceded in death by her wife and partner of 27 years Charlynn Johnson.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 