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Gone But Not Forgotten

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Gone But Not Forgotten

  • ANTONIA BRICO
    (internationally known symphonic conductor, led 1978 NWMF all-female orchestra)
    Died August 1989 in Denver, Colorado (natural causes at age 87)

  • AUDRE LORDE
    (writer, lecturer, poet, educator, lesbian-feminist/racial activist)
    Died November 1992 in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (breast cancer).

  • BETTY MacDONALD
    (jazz musician, jazz-women advocate, radio host, Living With Lesbians album)
    Died August 2010 in Woodstock, New York (liver disease).

  • BONNIE KOVALEFF BLACKFOOT
    (trumpet player, Baba Yaga & early Olivia Records)
    Died December 1997 in Portland, Oregon (AIDS/Hepatitus C).

  • BRENDA HENSON
    (Gulf Coast festival producer, lesbian-feminist-economic activist)
    Died February 2008 in Dumas, Arkansas (colon cancer).

  • CAROL MacDONALD
    (musician, arranger, bandleader, Isis & Goldie and the Gingerbreads)
    Died March 2007 in Wilmington, Delaware (liver disease).

  • GINNI CLEMMENS
    (banjo/guitar player, singer-songwriter, record company owner)
    Died February 2004 in Maui, Hawaii (car accident).

  • ELIZABETH KARLIN
    (concert producer, doctor, pro-choice activist)
    Died July 1998 in Madison, Wisconsin (brain cancer).

  • FRANCES WASSERLEIN
    (MichFest worker, exec director Vancouver Folk Music Festival)
    Died August 2015 in Halfmoon Bay, BC, Canada (complications from Alzheimers)

  • GWEN AVERY
    ("Sugar Mama" singer-songwriter, "Varied Voices of Black Women" tour)
    Died January 2015 in Santa Rosa, California (complications from gall bladder surgery).

  • JERENE O'BRIEN JACKSON
    (guitar player, BeBe K'Roche & early Olivia Records, big band leader)
    Died July 2003 in Los Angeles (cause of death?).

  • JOAN GIBSON
    (early women's music financial supporter and promoter)
    Died October 1996 in Lincoln, Nebraska (heart attack).

  • JOY ROSENBLATT
    (Mountain Moving Coffeehouse concert producer, HOT WIRE staffer)
    Died April 2004 in Chicago, Illinois (heart attack).

  • JUNE JORDAN
    (poet, performer, educator, journalist, feminist/civil rights activist)
    Died June 2002 in Berkeley, California (breast cancer).

  • KAY GARDNER
    (musician, composer, writer, choral director, conductor, priestess, HOT WIRE writer)
    Died August 2003 in Bangor, Maine (heart attack).

  • KRIS KOVICK
    (HOT WIRE cartoonist, writer, performer, first woman in printing trade union in Pacific NW)
    Died October 2001 in San Francisco (breast cancer).

  • LAURA NYRO
    (musician, singer-songwriter, 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee)
    Died April 1997 in Danbury, Connecticut (ovarian cancer).

  • LAURIE BENZ
    (singer-songwriter, photographer, pioneering activist for LGBT little people)
    Died January 2015 in Chicago, Illinois (long-term complications from strokes).

  • LORI TWERSKY
    (music journalist, editor of Bitch Rock Mag With Bite)
    Died November 1991 in Santa Clara, California (lupus).

  • MALVINA REYNOLDS
    (singer- songwriter, progressive activist)
    Died (pancreatic cancer) March 1978 in Berkeley, California.

  • MARCIA DIEHL
    (musician, New Harmony Sisterhood Band, LGBT theater supporter)
    Died March 2015 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (hit by truck while riding bike).

  • MARGARET SLOAN-HUNTER
    (writer, lecturer, activist, early Ms. Magazine editor)
    Died September 2004 in Oakland, California (prolonged illnesses).

  • MARY PAT HUGHES
    (sax player, 2 Funkin' Heavy)
    Died June 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland (leukemia).

  • MAXINE FELDMAN
    (singer-songwriter: "Amazon," festival emcee)
    Died August 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico (lung and heart ailments).

  • MICHAELINE CHVATAL
    (Artemis Singers, HOT WIRE staffer)
    Died February 2008 in Chicago, Illinois (breast cancer).

  • MICHFEST NIGHTSTAGE STAGE-RIGHT MAPLE TREE
    Felled by a storm in 2006 on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival land.

  • PAM BRANDT
    (writer, musican Deadly Nightshade, Cactus Rose)
    Died July 2015 in Miami, Florida (heart attack)

  • PAT PARKER
    (poet, performer, HOT WIRE writer)
    Died June 1989 in Oakland, California (breast cancer).

  • PEGGY MITCHELL
    (BeBe K'Roche co-founder, bass player)
    Died April 2009 in California (cause of death?).

  • RONNIE GILBERT
    (singer, actor, writer, progressive activist)
    Died June 2015 in Mill Valley, California (natural causes at age 88).

  • ROSETTA REITZ
    (founder/producer Rosetta Records, jazz/blues herstorian, HOT WIRE writer)
    Died November 2008 in Manhattan, New York (cardiopulmonary issues).

  • RUSTY GORDON
    (concert producer, music publisher, archivist, LGBT-feminist activist)
    Died October 2009 in West Palm Beach, Florida (progressive supranuclear palsy).

  • RUTH ELLIS
    (oldest lesbian attending festivals at age 99)
    Died October 2000 in Detroit, Michigan (natural causes at age 101).

  • RUTH ROWAN
    (sign language interpreter, NWMF board member)
    Died July 2015 while in Brazil (pancreatic cancer)

  • SYLVIA MESERVEY
    ("Face the Music" feminist-radio host)
    Died November 2007 in Worcester, Massachusetts (unexpectedly after back surgery).

  • TERRI JEWELL
    (poet, conference organizer, HOT WIRE writer, activist)
    Died November 1995 in Berlin, Michigan (murder? suicide? no consensus).

  • THERESE EDELL
    (singer-songwriter, sound engineer, "Voice of Michigan" emcee, composer)
    Died March 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio (multiple sclerosis).

  • TONI ARMSTRONG SR.
    (HOT WIRE worker, early-years "festival mom," Amazon Clubhouse co-host)
    Died December 2012 Riviera Beach, Florida (natural causes at age 87).

  • VIRGINIA GIORDAN
    (NYC record distributor, concert producer, artist)
    Died January 2015 in San Francisco, California (pancreatic cancer).

  • * * *

    There are gaps in what we know about the passing of some of these women.
    If you know more, please send details t

  • tonijr@hotwirejournal.com