December 19, 1952 – April 27, 2017
Detroit native Peter Cooper, Cody High School class of 1971, worked for National City Bank for 20 years and for a decade was employed with AIDS Partnership Michigan. While in college in the early 1970s, he became involved in the Wayne State Gay Liberation Front. He was subsequently active in MCC Detroit, ASP, Simcha, and Affirmations. Cooper was survived by his partner of 12 years Jonathan Quirk.
November 22, 1945 – December 30, 1999
Hairstylist Ronald Lorence Owens grew up in New Mexico and served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1970, honorably discharged as a Specialist 5 in the Air Defense Artillery. He resided in Southern California before moving to Michigan, where he lived in Detroit and Rochester. Owens was a member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit.
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.
July 11, 1937 – April 9, 2014
Longtime Grand Rapids resident Myra Elizabeth Marshall was employed by City Water Repair and belonged to Reconciliation Metropolitan Community Church. She was preceded in death by her life partner Marcella Robinson.
Grand Rapids Press, April 23, 2014
November 12, 1929 – April 20, 2003
Originally from Beverly, Massachusetts, Marcella “Marcy” Louise Robinson served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1955. She later moved to Grand Rapids, where she worked as a draftsperson and as an assembler for Laser Alignment. Robinson and her life partner Myra Marshall attended Reconciliation Metropolitan Community Church.
Grand Rapids Press, April 23, 2003
August 3, 1948 – February 27, 2018
Former Ferndale resident Raymond Edward Shepherd was born in Detroit and studied at Oakland Community College and Lawrence Tech. He worked as a computer programmer and analyst for various firms and was a deacon and longtime member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit. At the time of his death, Shepherd lived in a senior community in Hazel Park.
December 28, 1958 – January 3, 2012
Born in Pontiac, Mark George Bidwell earned his bachelor’s at Lawrence Technological University. He also attended SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary and earned a master’s in pastoral ministry at the Samaritan Institute of Sunshine Cathedral. In 1989, Bidwell joined the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, rose to the position of deacon, and later served as senior pastor until his resignation in 2011.
September 16. 1979 – July 23, 2014
Farmington resident Robert Edwin Quann Jr. attended Wayne Memorial High School, studied at Miss Katie’s College of Beauty in Canton, and worked as a hairstylist. In 2012, he became a member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit.
November 13, 1943 – August 15, 2003
Flat Rock High School graduate Dianne Hasty was a founding member of Lesbian-A-Sisters, past president of the Detroit Cocker Spaniel Club, and served on the board for the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit. Before her retirement in 1987, she was systems manager of radiology at Oakwood Heritage Hospital. She and her partner Tina Gorzenski relocated to Pellston in 2000.
Detroit News, September 3, 2003
Between The Lines, September 25, 2003
Lesbian Connection, January/February 2004
April 22, 1925 – January 27, 2002
A native of Pennsylvania, Mabel “Billie” Hill moved to Detroit in her youth and discovered Detroit’s gay bar scene while working in an auto factory during World War II. She later owned an antiques business with her then-partner Rose Bonham. A longtime member of the Metropolitan Church of Detroit, Hill tended the door at the Underground and, as a lesbian senior, was profiled in the Detroit News.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 