January 29, 1936 – April 30, 2001
Wolfgang Friedrich Jung moved to the U.S. from his native Germany in 1960 and operated his own automotive repair business, the Beetle Shop in Royal Oak, specializing in Volkswagens. He met his life partner David Hummel at Detroit’s Woodward Bar in 1969 and five years later they moved together to Traverse City where Jung opened Wolfgang’s Foreign Car Service.
Traverse City Record-Eagle, May 3, 2001
February 16, 1882 – April 18, 1946
Born in Detroit, Allan Patton Wallace worked as a hardware clerk before moving at age 30 to Manhattan where he performed as a bit actor in five shows on Broadway from the late 1920s through the mid-1930s. The last decade of his life he resided in Traverse City where he was employed as a desk clerk at the Whiting Hotel. Wallace left a suicide note and stepped from a ledge at age 64.
Traverse City Record-Eagle, April 19, 1946
November 20, 1919 – April 6, 2008
Fort Wayne, Indiana native Richard Dingley served as a Warrant Officer in World War II. He worked for many years with International Harvester in Traverse City before retiring to Cincinnati, Ohio. Dingley enjoyed baseball, railroads, and opera. He was a longtime subscriber to the early homophile magazine the Mattachine Review in the 1950s.
January 11, 1970 – October 25, 2019
Angelina Marie Winn graduated with the class of 1988 from St. Francis High School in Traverse City. After earning her Bachelor’s degree, she went on to have a 20-year career as a corrections officer with the Michigan Department of Corrections. Winn and her longtime partner Tara Kelley were found dead in their Kingsley home in a tragic murder-suicide.
August 17, 1963 – October 1, 2017
Glen Arbor resident Bryan John Borchardt earned his B.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985. He was employed in banking with JP Morgan Chase in Traverse City. He also raised and showed champion Shetland sheepdogs and operated Solstice Shelties. Borchardt and his husband Brandt Waldenmyer were together 27 years.
October 2, 1950 – October 15, 2017
A native of Traverse City and graduate of the Traverse City Schools, Bonnie Jean Purvis attended Central Michigan University and worked for more than three decades as a lab technician at Traverse City Osteopathic Hospital, later Munson Medical Center, retiring in 2013. An avid golfer, biker, and kayaker, Purvis was survived by Tammy Krentz, her spouse and loving partner of 36 years.
April 17, 1934 – January 31, 2010
A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Suzanne “Suzie” Dowden majored in physical education at Miami University of Ohio and earned her Master’s from the University of Michigan in 1966. She taught at Eastern Michigan University and had a varied career of teaching, counseling, and coaching in Detroit, Ferndale, and Kalkaska. Dowden lived in Traverse City with her partner of 42 years Connie Riopelle.
December 19, 1983 – April 28, 2016
Kalamazoo resident Esmeralda Bermudez graduated from Traverse City High School in 2005, earned her associates degree from Northern Michigan College, and worked as a dental technician. She was survived by two daughters and her wife Jade Austin Morgan.
November 26, 1924 – October 4, 1996
Born in Traverse City, Alma Routsong served in the WAVES during World War II and graduated from Michigan State University. After moving to New York City, she authored the pioneering novel Patience and Sarah under the pen name Isabel Miller.
Gay Community News, Winter 1996
August 17, 1937 – September 2, 2014
From 1974 to 1979, Donna Chartier, her then partner Diane Bono, and their friend June Reynolds operated the Casbah, the first lesbian-owned lesbian bar in Metro Detroit.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 