July 29, 1937 – September 21, 2011
Miami native Frimmitte “Louise” Griffin attended the University of Michigan in the 1950s and went on to become a pioneering female voice on Black radio in South Florida. She later served with a medical unit in the Women’s Army Corps during the Vietnam War. Griffin and her life partner Maryanne Powers met in 1963.
Lesbian Connection, January/February 2012
April 4, 1965 – March 14, 2014
Danny W. (D.J.) Boos Jr. grew up in Beaverton and graduated from the Beaverton Rural Schools in 1982. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps until 1989, he moved to Chicago where he worked in the hospitality industry. Long active in the Windy City LGBT community, Boos was named Mr. Chicago Leather in 1997.
April 7, 1984 – June 23, 2015
Birmingham native Jessie Makaila Shipps was a decorated veteran the U.S. Air Force, serving from 2003 to 2014. She was active in SPARTA, an organization for trans military members, and produced a number of YouTube videos documenting her gender transition. Shipps and her spouse Leeanna resided in Hampton, Virginia with their daughter Grace.
November 9, 1944 – November 7, 1994
A founder of the Lesbian and Gay Community Network of West Michigan, Dennis Komac served in Army from 1968 to 1970 and moved to Grand Rapids in 1984 to serve as executive director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Komac and his life partner Jeff Swanson later operated Sons and Daughters bookstore. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 49.
September 2, 1943 – November 24, 2015
Born in Pontiac, Randell “Randy” French served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, worked at the GM V-8 Engine Plant in Flint, and belonged to the Masonic Lodge in Ortonville. For a time, he also tended bar at the Interchange and other Detroit gay nightspots.
August 8, 1908 – November 13, 1984
Autoworker Homer F___ was arrested in 1938 while cruising in the Strand Theater in downtown Flint. The judge in his case asked if he should be sterilized, if that would solve his condition. After completing probation, he served in U.S. Army during World War II, married, and later moved to Washington State, fathering five children.
Anacortes American, November 14, 1984
January 14, 1956 – May 13, 2016
Born in Coldwater, Kathy Ann Rosesiler served 23 years in the U.S. Army. Upon retirement from the military, Rodesiler took a job with South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy program as a Master Sargent Cadre and logistician. Hilda Ross, her spouse of 34 years, survived her.
January 4, 1941 – January 9, 2018
A 1959 graduate of Holland High School, Ronald DeJonge attended Kendall School of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. A veteran of the National Guard, he later worked as a graphic designer and cabinet maker. At his death he shared a home in New Richmond with his partner Darris Chichock.
August 9, 1926 – March 5, 2010
Longtime Utica resident Ernest Horne was born in Boston, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, graduated from Harvard University, and moved to Detroit in the late 1940s. From 1961 to 1992, he was a librarian at the GM Tech Center in Warren. Horne was active in numerous Detroit area organizations, including the Association of Suburban People, the Detroit Area Gay/Lesbian Council, the Forum Foundation, and Affirmations.
April 7, 1921 – June 15, 2014
As a fighter pilot in World War II, Pontiac native and Rochester Hills resident Robert Harper survived weeks in the jungles of the Philippines after his plane was shot down. With degrees from Albion and Michigan State University, he taught in the Waterford Schools for twenty-five years. Harper was of a generation that never told their parents they were gay.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 