September 4, 1965 – January 9, 2023
Originally from Ohio where she attended high school and college, Yolinda Kaye “Linda” Pierce worked as a DJ at WOAP radio in Owosso and was an on-air personality for WWGZ in Lapeer. She DJ’d, as well, for many local women’s events and was a library administrator at Kettering University. Pierce shared a home on Flint’s eastside with her loving wife Dee Johnson.
March 15, 1947 – September 1, 2016
Marceline Elaine Lewis grew up in Flint, graduated from Flint Central High School, and attended Mott Community College. She was later employed with the marketing consulting firm TGI Direct and for a time owned and operated a cleaning business. A month before her passing, Lewis married her partner of 19 years Edith Pauline Foote.
October 1, 1956 – July 2, 2021
Born in Flint, Denis Christopher-Ryan graduated from Southwestern High School in 1974. He held retail and bank jobs before working at Genesee County Mental Health, where he retired after 20 years of service. In the mid-1990s, he served as a DJ at the short-lived gay nightclub Studio 910. Christopher-Ryan moved to Las Vegas in 2001 and held a second career in the hospitality industry.
February 2, 1968 – January 1, 2022
Damon Michael Williams was born in Flint and graduated with the class of 1986 from Grand Blanc High School. He relocated to Columbus where he attended Ohio State University. At the time of his death, Williams worked as Educational Coordinator for OhioHealth. He was preceded in death by his mother. Survivors included his father, his siblings, and his boyfriend Ricky.
January 17, 1947 – December 16, 2020
Lathrup Village resident Susan Catherine Brooks moved to Michigan from Pennsylvania in the 1970s. She earned her M.A. from Central Michigan, and worked for various Girl Scouts councils, the YWCA in Flint, and the YMCA in Detroit. Brooks was also involved in the early lesbian organization Moonrise and with Paws with a Cause. Her partners Martha Charles and Kathryn Wright preceded her in death.
No known obituary
June 18, 1963 – July 16, 2009
Matthew Dean Colden was born in Flint and attended Kearsley High School through 10th grade before dropping out. Colden worked as a chef in restaurants in the Flint and Detroit areas for much of his adult life and lived in Mount Clemens with Steve Daldine, his lover of 27 years. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 46.
Flint Journal, July 18, 2009
June 1, 1934 – March 20, 2986
Wilbert Delos “Hank” George attended North Branch High School in North Branch and worked on the assembly line at AC Spark Plug in Flint before serving in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958. Following his time in the military, he was employed in maintenance for the State of Michigan in Flint and Lapeer. George was a familiar presence at the State Bar and in the local gay community.
Flint Journal, March 21, 1986
September 28, 1956 – February 22, 2021
Otisville resident Lauriejane Clare Smith was born in Flint, grew up in Davison, and graduated with the class of 1974 from Davison High School. After completing the criminal justice program at Mott Community College, she worked as a park ranger and later as a patrol deputy and paramedic for the Genesee County Sheriff. In 2015, Smith married her partner Patricia Lawrence-Smith, who died in 2019.
June 9, 1969 – November 15, 2020
An early member of the House of Chanel, Jennifer Holiday Chanel graduated with the class of 1987 from Flint Central High School and went on to attend Eastern Michigan University. She performed at the Nectarine in Ann Arbor, later worked at Gigi’s in Detroit, and won the Miss Gigi’s title in 1997. The Performers Awards of Detroit honored Chanel with its Bookie Stewart Hall of Fame Award in 2017.
February 26, 1968 – pronounced dead November 6, 1999
Mundy Township resident Bruce Michael Hays attended Grand Blanc High, came out as a teen sneaking into Detroit bars, and in the mid-1980s started a computer dating service for Flint-area gay youth. He later completed three years of college and worked as a bartender. Hays gained national notoriety for swiping Michael Jackson’s glove from the Motown Museum.
Flint Journal, November 12, 1999
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 