Please note:
Having brought our major projects to a happy conclusion, we dissolved Purple as of August 31, 2023. This site functions only as a repository of information about the Lesbian Legacies Endowment we created, and as a record of Purple’s herstory.
We want to introduce ourselves. We are a group of friends who have engaged in various sorts of activism in the Lansing womyn’s community. Here are some brief bios:
The Board of Directors of Purple
- Marilyn Frye, President
- The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival has been part of my life, part of who I am, for forty+ years. It still is. I was there the first year and the last year, and missed only 3 along the way. PURPLE is the latest of many womyn-loving, womyn-supporting projects I’ve been part of as an out lesbian/feminist in the Lansing, MI community. I retired a few years ago as professor (Women’s Studies and Philosophy) at Michigan State. Many women’s studies students have encountered my essays published in The Politics of Reality. I’m a card-carrying Old Lesbian.
- Elizabeth Glew, Vice President
- Disabled lesbian combatting patriarchy since childhood. Instigator. Nerdy detail-orientated data-dyke, form filler, and proofreader. Retired teacher. Lansing resident since 1989, first 30 years in Dyke Heights.
- Val Osowski, Treasurer
- Val has spent a good part of the past 30-plus years involved in community activism, with an emphasis on social justice, LGBT and women’s issues. This has included securing funding for the first women’s domestic violence safe house in Caro, MI (New Options), and co-founding the Michigan Network of Women’s Centers; serving as a founding and long-standing member of Leaven, Inc., an organization committed to social transformation, especially spiritual, social and racial justice; and serving as the co-producer of the Michigan Pride March (1989-1995). More recent activities include serving as a member of the organizing committee for the annual Women in the Arts Festival in East Lansing, Mich.; serving as a committee member of the Michfest Fever project; and serving as treasurer and board member of Purple, Inc.
- Julie Haan, Secretary
- As owner of Jhaan Studios LLC, I am a working artist in the Lansing community as well as a member of the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. I also oversee Circe Productions LLC producing The Women in the Arts Festival in East Lansing, Michigan. I also participated as a Purple board member in our Michfest Fever project.
- Bone (Carolyn Shafer), Communications Director
- Ever since I caught a raging case of radical lesbian feminism in the mid-70s and moved to Lansing, Michigan, I’ve been unable to stay out of trouble. I’ve been the entire staff of the local branch of the short-lived Feminist Federal Credit Union; one of the instigators in Let’s Be An Apple Pie (a collective that ran the Lesbian Center for a while); the coordinator of the Book Co-op (a feminist bookstore); a member and usually an officer of Working Women Artists; an owner and manager of Bare Bone Studios for Women’s Art; and the convener of TurningWheel (a womyn’s ritual circle). I attended both the first and the last Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and most of those in between, twenty-two of them as a worker. I’m delighted that what we first conceived as February Festie Fever has morphed into Purple, and offers yet more opportunity for acting up.
- Terry Grant, Liaison to MSU Libraries for Lesbian Legacies Endowment
- Growing up in Maine, one of Terry’s first jobs was working as a canoe and backpacking guide. In 1973, she moved to Michigan to attend graduate school at Michigan State University. Soon after, she met her partner, Sue Emmert and Sue’s son Peter, and found her life family. Terry is the founder of Goldenrod Music in 1975, one of the earliest women’s music distribution companies. The company continues under the ownership of Susan Frazier and Mj Stephenson. Susan and Terry also created Goldenrod Records releasing albums by Cris Williamson, Tret Fure, Nedra Johnson, and Sistrum Lansing Women’s Chorus. Terry, Sue, and Susan Witcoff, along with several friends produced many life-changing women’s music concerts in the 70’s and 80’s as Mellow Muse Productions and Act Two Productions. Terry and Sue attended all 40 Michigan Womyn’s Music Festivals, participating as the music vendor. In addition to national womyn’s work, Terry has been active in her Lansing Michigan community. She was part of the Lesbian Center in 1973, then a founder of Let’s Be an Apple Pie and the Lesbian Alliance, two other lesbian community non-profits. Terry was also part Sharing our Assorted Resources (SOAR), a community organization that raised emergency funds for Lansing area lesbians. Terry, an avid fan of women’s choral music, served on the board of directors and as treasurer of Sistrum Lansing Women’s Chorus. Currently, she is a retired tax professional, grandmother, active Quaker and forever a music lover. Terry’s role as a Purple board member is to steward the Lesbian Legacies: Amazon Cultural/Political Activism in the Second Wave Feminism Endowment.
Members can be reached either collectively or individually
through our Contact Form or at info@purple4womyn.org.
Directors Emeritae
- Penny Gardner, Community Connections Director Emerita
- A late bloomer. Came out at 53, entered graduate school at 54, earned my PhD at 61. A radical, feminist activist. A mother of 5. Have had my own business, and taught first-year writing to freshpeople at MSU. Have been with my partner for decades.
- Cheryl VanDeKerkhove, Director Emerita
- Lesbian feminist, civil rights activist, events producer and businessperson, Cheryl has been active in Lansing since the late ‘80s in endeavors including the Real World Emporium (an LGBT Community Store), the Lansing Equal Rights Task Force, the Lansing Association for Human Rights, the local NAACP, and the Ambitious Amazons (publishers of the Lesbian Connection). She has participated locally and statewide in numerous panels, forums and speaking engagements on topics such as racism, sexism and homophobia. Since 1988 she has produced or co-produced countless womyn’s events, from house concerts through festivals. From 1987 on, Cheryl attended the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival as a craftswomon, multi-purpose volunteer, and host of the Wimminfōk of Midway. In 2016, she connected the founders of WWTLC with Purple; on the board of Purple, she helped make the resulting fiscal sponsorship a success. As Fundraising Chair and Secretary of the WWTLC Board (2019-2021), she created the Landmothers program. With a business degree from Michigan State University, Cheryl has managed business administration for several non-profit organizations and is retired as Operations and Delivery Executive from global IT corporations.
