July 19, 1941 – May 30, 2016
Taylor resident and Detroit native Diane Mary Bono graduated from Allen Park High School in 1959 and later worked as a cosmetology instructor. From 1974 to 1979, along with her then-partner Donna Chartier and their friend June Reynolds, Bono operated the Casbah Lounge, the first lesbian-owned lesbian bar in Detroit.
No known obituary
June 15, 1953 – July 27, 2015
Vande Jane Grewer of Troy earned her B.S. in retail management in 1975 from Michigan State University. She was as a licensed real estate agent in Metro Detroit and attended the First United Methodist Church of Birmingham. Grewer’s life partner Tamara Dowd survived her.
April 1, 1957 – January 4, 2015
Kevin James Rogers was born and grew up in Clinton Township in Macomb County. He resided in Lincoln Park and Detroit before moving to Ferndale, where he co-chaired Keep Our Human Rights, a group formed to combat a ballot campaign to rescind Ferndale’s newly enacted non-discrimination ordinance in 1999. Rogers owned and operated Just 4 Us in Ferndale from 2004 until his death.
November 24, 1957 – November 6, 1996
Timothy Dean Stempniewski attended Aquinas High School in Southgate and held degrees in education, nursing, and music. He worked as a home-care nurse for Henry Ford Hospital and served as a church organist. In the 1990s he was active with several recovery groups at Affirmations. Stempniewski was found slain in his Detroit home at age 39.
June 11, 1962 – June 25, 2019
Saginaw native Patricia “Pat” Ann Lawrence-Smith, also known as Patricia Smith, worked as an emergency medical technician in Genesee County and resided for 25 years in Davison. She and her partner Lauriejane Smith were united in marriage in September 2015.
January 20, 1959 – July 13, 2017
Judith Ann “Judy” Fraidenburg was born in St. Johns and graduated in the class of 1977 from Laingsburg High School. She tended bar for more than 20 years at the Mayfair Bar in Haslett. Fraidenburg and her spouse Kim Hasbrook were married in October 2015.
August 7, 1952 – September 1, 2004
While pursuing his first undergraduate degree at Oakland University, Detroit native Homer Young-Kennedy III served as arts editor for the student newspaper. He went on to earn a B.A. in audiology and speech from Michigan State University and taught special education. Young-Kennedy moved to New York City in 1980.
December 1841 – September 5, 1898
Born in Nova Scotia, Sarah Emma Edmonds began presenting herself as Frank Thompson at age 15. Thompson moved to Flint in the 1860s and was considered “quite a lady’s man.” After serving as a male nurse in Second Michigan Volunteer Infantry the Civil War, Edmonds resumed living as a woman. Her memoir Nurse and Spy in the Union Army became a best seller.
No known obituary
September 5, 1951 – August 3, 2009
Muskegon resident Daniel Chambers spent summers on Mackinac Island while growing up in Dearborn and earned his degree in fine arts from Wayne State University. As owner of his own design business, he created interiors for residential and commercial clients on Mackinac Island and in west Michigan. Chambers and his life partner Terry MacAllister were together 28 years.
July 18, 1949 – August 9, 2006
Detroit native Colleen Annette Regan was valedictorian of the class of 1967 at McKenzie High School and went on to earn her B.A. and M.A. in education from the University of Maryland. She left teaching to pursue a 20-year career as a Certified Public Accountant, retiring in 2003. Regan and her partner Kathe Kirkbride resided in New Mexico.
Lesbian Connection, November/December 2006
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 