April 1, 1963 – September 20, 2019
The first female player on the Little League baseball team in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, Sarah Ann Flick was born in Chicago and lived in Grand Rapids in the late 1980s. She spent 18 years in law enforcement, retiring in 2017 from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department. Flick passed away from cancer at the home she shared in Ada, Michigan with her wife Heidi Gidley.
February 18, 1963 – April 22, 2012
Flint native Denise Lynn Welsh grew up in Burton and worked as a teacher consultant for student with autism spectrum disorders in the Genesee Intermediate School District for more than two decades. She was survived by her sons and her life partner Betsy Curtis.
June 19, 1966 – September 17, 2001
Jackson resident Michelle Marie “Mitch” Hughson was born in Lansing and graduated with the class of 1985 from Charlotte High School. For 12 years, Hughson worked as a radiologist technician at Hayes Green Beach Hospital in Charlotte.
July 30, 1959 – July 31, 1985
A native of Canada, Mark Joseph Osaer was a member of the Lincoln Park High School class of 1977. Following graduation, Osaer moved to Houston, Texas. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 26.
July 28, 1921 – January 9, 1994
Born in Detroit, John Pierre Adams served in the U.S. Army during World War II and, while living in New York City following his tour of duty, performed with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company. He returned to Detroit in the 1950s and worked as a shipping clerk for an equipment company. In the 1970s, Adams led the local gay organization ONE in Detroit as its president for three years.
No known obituary
November 4, 1951 – November 23, 2015
Linda Eileen Gesterling was born in Bixby Knolls, California and resided in Glendale, Arizona when she passed away. In the 1980s she lived in Lansing, where she was employed with the Social Security Administration and was a 1990 graduate of Michigan State University. Gesterling was survived by her spouse Lisa Howell.
July 9, 1935 – April 29, 2016
Redford Township native Toni Langfield came out following a heterosexual marriage. She enjoyed a long career as a children’s librarian in the San Francisco Bay area and was active in Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. Langfield was preceded in death by a son and was survived by another son, two daughters, and Carly Rivers, her partner of more than 20 years.
July 27, 1932 – July 18, 2017
Nancy Ledins was born in Cleveland, Ohio as William Griglak, was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1959, and served as an assistant rector at St. Anthony parish in Detroit in the early 1960s. After leaving the priesthood to marry a nun, William transitioned to Nancy in 1979 and was obliged to divorce. In her last years, Rev. Ledins resumed ministering with a congregation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
March 28, 1964 – April 3, 2019
Canton resident Rodger Lynn Williams was born in Detroit, graduated from Clarenceville High School in Livonia, and later studied at William Tyndale College in Farmington Hills. Rev. Williams received his religious training at Concordia Seminary in Missouri and for 13 years served as pastor of Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor.
April 29, 1949 – January 25, 2018
A native of Warren, Ohio, Rev. Senia Taipale attended Wittenberg University and earned her Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. After moving to Michigan, she became Director of Pastoral Care at Sparrow Hospital in 1992, a position she held for 18 years. She and Jo Hartwell, her life partner of 31 years, were married in December 2015.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 