July 20, 1944 – February 26, 1987
Detroit native Paul Charles Ganter served in the U.S. Navy from 1961 to 1963. Ganter moved to Houston in 1971 and lived for a time in Austin and New Orleans. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 42.
Tag: expats
William Hirn
August 26, 1928 – April 12, 2013
Born in Escanaba, William James Hirn earned his Bachelor’s from Western Michigan University and did his graduate studies at the University of Michigan. After teaching in Muskegon and Ann Arbor, he moved to New York State, where he was on the early faculty of Rockland Community College. Hirn and his life partner of 48 years Joseph Rogers retired to Spain and later lived in Houston and Las Vegas.
Jonel Hoogterp
May 13. 1983 – July 31, 2009
A native of Engadine in Mackinac County, Jonel Kathryn Hoogterp was valedictorian of her high school class and part of the All-UP Girls Basketball Team in 2001. She earned her Bachelor’s at Aquinas College and later moved to Durham, North Carolina. Hoogterp and her partner Julie Hatch were killed in an automobile crash.
Vicki Fitzpatrick
June 14, 1949 – February 1, 2017
Lansing native and former resident Vicki “Vic” Fitzpatrick earned her Bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and Master’s from Central Michigan. She was a social worker for Community Mental Health and prevention coordinator for Clinton County Substance Abuse Center in St. Johns. In 1991, Fitzpatrick relocated to Florida, where she lived with her spouse Sandra Hudson.
Colleen Brewer
December 7, 1957 – January 3, 2016
Born in Milan, Colleen Brewer attended Northville High School and worked at Northville Labs, before she moved to Virginia in 1982. She was employed for 33 years as accounts receivable manager for CACI International. Brewer was survived by Kim Memeger, her partner of 17 years and wife of 45 days.
Larry Frost
April 11, 1941 – July 24, 1973
Larry Frost grew up in Royal Oak. He left Metro Detroit as a young adult and lived in various cities until he landed in New Orleans, where he worked as a bar manager and attended the local Metropolitan Community Church. Frost is believed to be one of three unidentified arson victims of the Upstairs Lounge Fire that killed 32 people.
Joan Corbin
May 21, 1921 – March 4, 2004
Joan Jeanette Corbin was born in Armada, grew up in Richmond, and moved to Los Angeles in 1946. With her then-partner Irma Wolf, Corbin was a founding member of the board for ONE Incorporated, publisher of ONE magazine. She served as art director for ONE under the pseudonym Eve Elloree from 1953 to 1963. Corbin continued to draw into her 70s, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
No known obituary
Win Wells
April 3, 1933 – December 6, 1983
Originally from Arkansas, Winfred Wells was raised in Detroit and in the 1950s became a noted local beatnik poet. In the 1960s he performed female impersonation under his own name at the Diplomat Lounge. Wells subsequently moved to England, where he wrote screenplays and lived with his longtime companion, director Silvio Narizzano.
London Times, December 8, 1983
Leslie Leoneli
December 21, 1947 – September 24, 2009
Raised in Highland Park, Leslie Leonelli attended Oakland University and worked in local theater in Rochester and beyond Michigan before moving to New York City in 1973. Following a career off-Broadway, she worked as a massage therapist and helped found the women’s production company Ars Pro Femina. Later in life she operated Pearl’s Rainbow, a renowned resort for women.
Lesbian Connection, January/February 2010
Kathleen Canteen
January 27, 1948 – May 16, 2015
Kathleen Canteen was born in Jackson and earned for B.A. in political science from Eastern Michigan University. As a resident of Royal Oak and Lansing, she played fast-pitch softball. Canteen worked as a supervisor with the Center For Forensics Psychiatry for the State of Michigan before moving to Los Angeles, where she was employed in the motion picture industry.
Lesbian Connection, November/December 2015
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 