September 26, 1945 – September 4, 2020
Hailing from Texas, Carolyn Ann Van Cleave earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Ball State. She joined the faculty of Central Michigan University in 1978, working in the counseling center, and opened her own private practice in Mount Pleasant in the mid-1980s. Van Cleave and her partner Marsha Phillips were united in marriage in 2015.
July 3, 1923 – August 31, 2020
Mt. Pleasant resident Jean Roberts grew up on a farm in rural Iowa and attended Western Michigan University, where she played tuba in the symphony. She went on to teach physical education in Kalamazoo and at Comstock High School and later worked as a counselor in the Reed City schools. For 15 years, Roberts and her life partner Janet Bush operated J & J Leather.
January 23, 1947 – July 20, 2020
Marie Anne Hansen was born in Mt. Pleasant and earned her Bachelor’s in human ecology at Michigan State University. She later got her Masters and had a long career in student affairs in Colorado, Nebraska, and at MSU. She was a beloved part the Lansing area lesbian community and was longtime coordinator of the local women and arts festival. Hansen was survived by her wife Priscilla Feigenbaum.
May 30, 1952 – November 6, 1999
Virgil Julius “Tony” Leone was born in Detroit and graduated with the class of 1970 from Mt. Pleasant High School. At Central Michigan University, he was an early member of Gay Liberation, serving as its president in the mid-1970s. Leone later moved to San Francisco where he worked as a Registered Nurse and became involved in local HIV/AIDS activism. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 47.
February 27, 1962 – January 6, 2014
Birmingham resident Todd Glenn Lloyd was born in Mount Pleasant and graduated from Clare High School. He owned and operated the rental company Chair Covers & Linens in Madison Heights. Lloyd and his partner of 10 years Christopher Neumann perished in a single-engine plane crash.
September 21, 1951 – August 9, 2016
Janet Thering played varsity basketball while a student at Sacred Heart Academy in Mt. Pleasant, graduated from Aquinas College, and taught physical education in the Grand Rapids Schools for 20 years. A founder of the Grand Rapids Women’s Chorus, Thering attended every Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival from 1976 to 2015. She and her wife Ruth Allerton were together 16 years.
January 18, 1954 – December 3, 2013
Born in Detroit, Janice Zygmontowicz moved to Mt. Pleasant in the 1970s to attend Central Michigan University, where she earned four varsity letters, and played for the championship field hockey team. She worked as an electrician at CMU and later earned a Master’s degree in counseling and became an outpatient therapist.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 