February 20, 1989 – November 19, 2022
LGBTQ community artist, activist, and icon Marissa “Rizza” Marie Benton attended Haslett High School, where as a senior they won a portfolio award for their art. They were later stylist at and operator of the Roots Hair Lounge salon at Wild Ferns Wellness in Lansing. Benton also served on the board of the Salus Center. They were survived by their son Oliver and by five days by their partner Sydney Eckhoff.
October 18, 1963 – July 9, 1989
Jeffrey Dee Whitmyer graduated from Okemos High School in 1982. He attended Lake Superior State University for a year before moving to Dallas, Texas, returning to Michigan in 1989. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 25.
Lansing State Journal, July 11, 1989
June 4, 1969 – July 26, 1996
David Scott May was 1987 graduate of Holt High School, where he was a champion diver. May was preceded in death in 1995 by his lifetime soulmate Klayton Shepard. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 27.
Lansing State Journal, July 28, 1996
August 7, 1964 – May 27, 1991
Jamaican-born Duane Ivanhoe Richards graduated from Lansing Everett High School, attended the University of Michigan. and went on to work as a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. He shared a home in Detroit and later Atlanta with Brent Dorian Carpenter, his life partner of more than four years, who was at his side when Richards passed away. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 26.
Lansing State Journal, May 31, 1991
November 4, 1966 – September 11, 1997
A Lansing native Juan Hernandez graduated with the class of 1984 from Eastern High School. Hernandez became involved with the Lansing Area AIDS Network in the 1990s. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 30.
Lansing State Journal, September 14, 1997
June 28, 1944 – October 26, 2020
A 1961 graduate of Lansing Sexton High School, Jean Fillingham met her life partner Ilona Sabo-Shuler in the late 1970s and the two shared homes together in Okemos and Lansing’s West Side neighborhood. In addition to Sabo-Shuler, Fillingham was survived by her son, daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
June 15, 1981 – December 10, 2018
Born in Lansing, Jesse James Sherman Melot graduated from Fulton High School in Middleton in 1999. He later earned his Associate’s at Lansing Community College and his Bachelors from Sienna Heights University, going on to work as operations manager for Farm Bureau Insurance. Melt met his future husband Derek Melot in March 2004 and the two wed in October 2013.
July 23, 1927 – March 5, 1998
Originally from Illinois, Frank Lloyd Bigger Jr. worked as manager and bartender at Joe Covello’s in Lansing from 1975 to 1991. He went on to manage JB’s Saloon for three years before helping launch the Esquire Bar in 1994. The Lansing Association for Human Rights recognized Bigger with a Prism Award in 1995. Following his death in a car accident, an annual euchre charity event was named in his honor.
October 10, 1951 – February 10, 2010
Born in Lansing, Darnell Austin Clark graduated from Everett Hight School in 1970 and as a youth performed with the Suitcase Theater on two tours in Europe. He was later employed with Oldsmobile as a purchasing technician for more than 30 years. Clark died at age 58 of complications from diabetes and was survived by his life partner John McGarey.
Lansing State Journal, February 18, 2010
April 6, 1949 – September 28, 2021
Lansing resident Ilona Rae Sabo-Shuler was born in Grand Rapids, graduated from South High School, attended Calvin College, and later studied at Garrett Theological Seminary in Illinois. After serving as pastor of Williamston United Methodist Church from 1982 to 1994, she became a real estate agent in East Lansing. Sabo-Schuler was preceded in death in 2020 by her partner of 42 years Jean Fillingham.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 