July 5, 1991 – October 19, 2010
Born in Florida, Corey Dwayne Jackson graduated summa cum laude in 2009 from Warren Woods Tower High School, where he swam and ran track. He was employed as a food clerk at McDonald’s in Warren and was a sophomore at Oakland University. Jackson took his own life at age 19 in a wooded area of campus. His boyfriend Mario Martin was among his survivors.
May 15, 1944 – December 6, 2020
Pontiac native Barbara Jean Ziegler of Waterford attended Michigan State and Wayne State University and earned her Master’s at Oakland University. She taught every grade from K through 8th in the Pontiac schools and later became an elementary and junior high principal. After a heterosexual marriage and raising her family, Ziegler united with her life partner Jo Nebeker, who survived her.
August 12, 1958 – July 25, 2016
Theresa Mary Guillean of Bloomfield Hills graduated with the Pontiac Catholic High School class of 1976. She went on to earn her B.S. in 1990 from Oakland University and devoted herself to social work. Guillean and her wife Lori Klein Shapiro were among more than 300 couples issued marriage licenses on March 22, 2014 after a federal judge overturned Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage.
July 8, 1944 – May 15, 2020
Clinton Township resident Cheryl Margaret Lantinga was Homecoming Queen her senior year at Lamphere High School in Madison Heights, where she graduated in 1962. She later studied at Oakland University and was employed with Consumers Energy for 31 years. In her retirement, she volunteered at area hospital gift shops. Lantinga was survived by her life partner Colleen Stout.
September 18, 1963 – April 3, 2020
Growing up in the 1970s, Ellen Marie Rogowski of Holly was the first girl to play in a boys’ baseball league in Royal Oak. She earned her B.A. and M.A. from Oakland University and taught middle school in Pontiac and English at Henry Ford Community College and Lewis College of Business. She was also an accomplished musician, releasing three albums. She and Rosemary Jozwiak shared 30 years together.
May 28, 1969 – June 23, 1990
Diane Kotila was born in Southfield and graduated with the class of 1987 from Kimball High School in Royal Oak. She was a student at Oakland University and was employed by William Beaumont Hospital. After losing her life in an automobile accident, friends held a benefit at the Railroad Crossing for a fund in her name at Affirmations to help provide lesbian and gay youth with counseling and support.
Royal Oak Daily Tribune, June 24, 1990
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.
August 18, 1946 – January 14, 2011
Cynthia Susan Everling, known to friends as Cindy, graduated from Pontiac Central High School and studied philosophy at Oakland University, with additional studies at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. She was a case manager and grant writer for the HIV/AIDS Resource Center. Everling resided in Ann Arbor with her partner of 28 years Lin Jacobs.
February 7, 1991 – January 24, 2019
Grosse Pointe Woods resident Nathan DeWayne Strickland Jr. earned his Bachelor’s in forensic psychology from Tiffin University in 2013 and his Master’s in community counseling from Oakland University in 2016. Strickland worked with LGBT Detroit and the Community Health Awareness Group, was active in Hotter Than July, and attended the First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Detroit.
January 30, 1939 – September 1, 2016
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Deborah Ann Mortimer graduated from Grosse Pointe South High School, attended Albion College, and earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Oakland University. An avid golfer and artist, she taught elementary school from 1974 to 2004. Mortimer and her life partner of 40 years Liana Holton shared a home in Bloomfield Hills.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 