January 25, 1957 – October 24, 2008
Born in Detroit, Cheryl Ann Marie Grout of Houston, Texas earned her B.S. from Central Michigan University in 1980. She worked as an in vitro fertilization technician at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit before moving to Texas, where she worked for Baylor College of Medicine. Grout was survived by her partner Mary Louise Sorensen.
May 30, 1952 – November 6, 1999
Virgil Julius “Tony” Leone was born in Detroit and graduated with the class of 1970 from Mt. Pleasant High School. At Central Michigan University, he was an early member of Gay Liberation, serving as its president in the mid-1970s. Leone later moved to San Francisco where he worked as a Registered Nurse and became involved in local HIV/AIDS activism. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 47.
April 14, 1958 – October 24, 2012
Sally Ann Hopkins was born in Jackson and graduated in the class of 1976 from Jackson High School. She later earned her Associates Degree from Columbia College in Missouri and served 20 years in the U.S. Navy. Following her service, Hopkins worked at Home Depot and resided in Atlanta, Indiana with her partner Kathryn “Kathi” Lee Miller.
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.
April 3, 1958 – April 25, 2010
Sue Helene Miller of Lancaster, California grew up in Lake City in Missaukee County. Of Saginaw Chippewa heritage, Miller earned degrees in social work at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and the University of Washington, later pursuing a career as a certified alcohol and substance abuse counselor. Miller was survived by her partner Michelle Klein.
Lesbian Connection, July/August 2010
November 29, 1970 – November 3, 2016
Melissa Sorber Schout graduated from Grand Rapids Baptist High School in the class of 1988. She later lived in Chicago before settling in Flowery Branch, Georgia outside Atlanta. Schout was employed with RxSleep and was survived by her spouse Alicia Addington.
January 8, 1947 – October 4, 2014
Ronald Hoenig of Bonita Springs, Florida was born in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in Adrian and Blissfield. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and later operated a cabinetry business with Art Trevino, his partner of 27 years. The couple would have liked to have married but Hoenig died months before the Supreme Court made it legally possible.
March 28, 1937 – February 3, 2016
Carole Lynn Stoneking was raised in Grosse Pointe, received her Bachelor’s at Wayne State University, and in 1967, she earned a scholarship to pursue her Masters in recreational leadership. She had a 27-year career with the YWCA and later owned the Stress Management Institute of Therapeutic Massage in Columbia, South Carolina. Stoneking also served on the steering committee for Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.
November 20, 1941 – February 2, 1989
Oliver Wellington Sipple was born in Detroit, grew up in Royal Oak, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970, including a tour-of-duty in Vietnam. After leaving the military, he moved to San Francisco, where he could live a more open gay life. On September 22, 1975, Sipple made headlines and history when he prevented an attempted assassin from shooting President Gerald Ford.
October 13, 1950 – August 14, 2007
Betty Jo “Stormie” Parham grew up in Grand Rapids and lived in Phoenix and Chicago before settling with her partner Gail Goldstein in Placitas, New Mexico. She worked variously as a builder, chef, clown, firefighter, handy-woman, and innkeeper. Parham died at age 56 after a long battle with lung cancer.
Lesbian Connection, May/June 2008
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 