Violet Marie Dennis, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died of heart failure August 17, 2022. She was 80 years old and had a forty-five year history with the lesbian and feminist community.
Marie was the only one of us who had a car back in the mid to late 1970’s so she would act as the traveling bookstore to NOW conferences and other places lesbians gathered. I met Marie when she showed up at the lesbian commune in Clifton to pick up books. When the leaders of the Labyris lesbian group split up and left town, the commune became the keeper of those early lesbian novels published by Naiad Press. This was before our beloved Crazy Ladies Bookstore opened in 1979. Marie’s service was greatly appreciated!
Later on she dated my friend, Victoria Ramstetter, Naiad author of the first lesbian gothic. When the commune disbanded, Vic moved into Marie’s attic in her blue house on Bruce in Northside. I would often visit and get into conversations. A decade older than many of us, she served as a wise big sister to many of us. She was interested in many topics–spirituality, feminism, homeownership, medicine, and astrology. A funny story: once when Marie came to the commune for a visit, she noted most of us were water signs (Pisces, Cancer, & Scorpio) and called the place an “emotional cesspool.” I have never forgotten this. Marie was a fiery Aries and strong in her opinions! Marie was always there at just about every event, group, and discussion. She was a strong and steady presence in the lesbian and women’s community, too often one of the few out black women.
Marie was one of the women in the book Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence by Rosemary Curb & Nancy Manahan (Naiad Press, 1st edition, 1985). She joined the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (1960-1968) and taught school while she was a nun. After she left the convent (“particular friendships” were forbidden), Marie worked at the University of Cincinnati and later at Procter & Gamble in laboratories doing research.
Near the end of her life, Marie sold her home of forty plus years and went to live at Alapine Village, an all-women’s community in rural NE Alabama.
Our fondest quote from Marie (from her chapter in Lesbian Nuns): “My belief now is in ultimate evolution toward love: love oneself, other people and the earth…I don’t regret my eight years in the convent. Religious life gave me the tools I’ve used ever since for thinking, living, loving, and growing.”
~ Phebe (Karen) Beiser, after being requested to write this story up about our dear Marie