Keith Gann had AIDS, but he refused to be a victim of the disease.
"I am not a victim," he said in a speech at the 1988 Democratic national convention. "I cannot think of myself as a victim and survive. I am a person with AIDS. I am your brother, son, neighbor, friend, lover...Do not divide the world into 'us' and 'them.' We must understand that we are all 'us.' We are a people with AIDS."
Keith Gann, 36, who died Tuesday at Grace House in south Minneapolis, had been diagnosed with AIDS three years ago. During that time he helped launch PWAlive, a bimonthly newsletter for people affected by the disease. He was its editor for more than two years after it was founded in late 1987.
Gann, formerly of St. Paul, spoke before hundreds of delegates in the televised speech at the convention in Atlanta. He called for more government action, an end to the discrimination against people with AIDS and more money to develop a vaccine and a cure for the disease.
"One of his friends in Alaska was telling me he heard on the news that there were two great speeches given that day, one by Jesse Jackson and the other by Keith Gann," said Gann's sister Sharon Moravec, of McHenry, Ill.
Gann had been co-editor of the Evergreen Chronicle, a literary review. He was a member of ACT UP, the East Metro Area AIDS Task Force and the Arts Over AIDS Task Force. He contributed a panel to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and was featured in a book about the quilt.
"He was empowered," said Perry Tilleraas, a close friend. "Instead of being passive, he was an actor in his own life rather than letting the world happen to him. He was in charge of his life rather than the disease."
Gann was a member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Quakers) and was active in the National Organization of Friends.
"He was approached by a single parent to be a male role model for her son, who was 3 years old at the time," said Doug Goodman, who had known Gann since high school. "That was an important part of his life and that was something we did together quite a bit, things with Alex. They became so close. In fact, the night before he died, Alex was there to say goodbye to him."
Gann was a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. he attended the U.S. International College in Sussex, England, and studied at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He did social work with native children in Alaska's interior. He worked for the Ramsey County Community Human Services Department in St. Paul for about 11 years before his diagnosis with AIDS.
Gann moved to Grace House, a residence for AIDS patients on March 14, his sister said. "I had been with Keith for six months of trying to figure out where he was going to go, she said. "The first time I saw him here I noticed this big change that had come over him. The tension was gone from his face; the anger was gone. He felt peace here, he felt love here.
Besides his sister Sharon Moravec, Gann is survived by his parents, Thomas and Dorothy Gann, of Council Bluffs; sisters Rita Brandt, of Windsor, Mo.; Carol Tinghino, of Rathdrum, Idaho, and Bobbi Gann Boze, of Council Bluffs, and brothers Thomas (Butch) and Jerry, both of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Terry, of McClellan, Iowa, and Larry, of Ascoda, Mich.
A memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. today at Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College in St. Paul. Memorials to Grace House, 4457 3rd Av. S., Minneapolis, are suggested. Arrangements are by the Cremation Society of Minnesota.
~From Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), May 10, 1990 Thur, pg 32.
"I am not a victim," he said in a speech at the 1988 Democratic national convention. "I cannot think of myself as a victim and survive. I am a person with AIDS. I am your brother, son, neighbor, friend, lover...Do not divide the world into 'us' and 'them.' We must understand that we are all 'us.' We are a people with AIDS."
Keith Gann, 36, who died Tuesday at Grace House in south Minneapolis, had been diagnosed with AIDS three years ago. During that time he helped launch PWAlive, a bimonthly newsletter for people affected by the disease. He was its editor for more than two years after it was founded in late 1987.
Gann, formerly of St. Paul, spoke before hundreds of delegates in the televised speech at the convention in Atlanta. He called for more government action, an end to the discrimination against people with AIDS and more money to develop a vaccine and a cure for the disease.
"One of his friends in Alaska was telling me he heard on the news that there were two great speeches given that day, one by Jesse Jackson and the other by Keith Gann," said Gann's sister Sharon Moravec, of McHenry, Ill.
Gann had been co-editor of the Evergreen Chronicle, a literary review. He was a member of ACT UP, the East Metro Area AIDS Task Force and the Arts Over AIDS Task Force. He contributed a panel to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and was featured in a book about the quilt.
"He was empowered," said Perry Tilleraas, a close friend. "Instead of being passive, he was an actor in his own life rather than letting the world happen to him. He was in charge of his life rather than the disease."
Gann was a member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Quakers) and was active in the National Organization of Friends.
"He was approached by a single parent to be a male role model for her son, who was 3 years old at the time," said Doug Goodman, who had known Gann since high school. "That was an important part of his life and that was something we did together quite a bit, things with Alex. They became so close. In fact, the night before he died, Alex was there to say goodbye to him."
Gann was a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. he attended the U.S. International College in Sussex, England, and studied at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He did social work with native children in Alaska's interior. He worked for the Ramsey County Community Human Services Department in St. Paul for about 11 years before his diagnosis with AIDS.
Gann moved to Grace House, a residence for AIDS patients on March 14, his sister said. "I had been with Keith for six months of trying to figure out where he was going to go, she said. "The first time I saw him here I noticed this big change that had come over him. The tension was gone from his face; the anger was gone. He felt peace here, he felt love here.
Besides his sister Sharon Moravec, Gann is survived by his parents, Thomas and Dorothy Gann, of Council Bluffs; sisters Rita Brandt, of Windsor, Mo.; Carol Tinghino, of Rathdrum, Idaho, and Bobbi Gann Boze, of Council Bluffs, and brothers Thomas (Butch) and Jerry, both of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Terry, of McClellan, Iowa, and Larry, of Ascoda, Mich.
A memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. today at Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College in St. Paul. Memorials to Grace House, 4457 3rd Av. S., Minneapolis, are suggested. Arrangements are by the Cremation Society of Minnesota.
~From Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), May 10, 1990 Thur, pg 32.
Keith Gann had AIDS, but he refused to be a victim of the disease.
"I am not a victim," he said in a speech at the 1988 Democratic national convention. "I cannot think of myself as a victim and survive. I am a person with AIDS. I am your brother, son, neighbor, friend, lover...Do not divide the world into 'us' and 'them.' We must understand that we are all 'us.' We are a people with AIDS."
Keith Gann, 36, who died Tuesday at Grace House in south Minneapolis, had been diagnosed with AIDS three years ago. During that time he helped launch PWAlive, a bimonthly newsletter for people affected by the disease. He was its editor for more than two years after it was founded in late 1987.
Gann, formerly of St. Paul, spoke before hundreds of delegates in the televised speech at the convention in Atlanta. He called for more government action, an end to the discrimination against people with AIDS and more money to develop a vaccine and a cure for the disease.
"One of his friends in Alaska was telling me he heard on the news that there were two great speeches given that day, one by Jesse Jackson and the other by Keith Gann," said Gann's sister Sharon Moravec, of McHenry, Ill.
Gann had been co-editor of the Evergreen Chronicle, a literary review. He was a member of ACT UP, the East Metro Area AIDS Task Force and the Arts Over AIDS Task Force. He contributed a panel to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and was featured in a book about the quilt.
"He was empowered," said Perry Tilleraas, a close friend. "Instead of being passive, he was an actor in his own life rather than letting the world happen to him. He was in charge of his life rather than the disease."
Gann was a member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Quakers) and was active in the National Organization of Friends.
"He was approached by a single parent to be a male role model for her son, who was 3 years old at the time," said Doug Goodman, who had known Gann since high school. "That was an important part of his life and that was something we did together quite a bit, things with Alex. They became so close. In fact, the night before he died, Alex was there to say goodbye to him."
Gann was a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. he attended the U.S. International College in Sussex, England, and studied at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He did social work with native children in Alaska's interior. He worked for the Ramsey County Community Human Services Department in St. Paul for about 11 years before his diagnosis with AIDS.
Gann moved to Grace House, a residence for AIDS patients on March 14, his sister said. "I had been with Keith for six months of trying to figure out where he was going to go, she said. "The first time I saw him here I noticed this big change that had come over him. The tension was gone from his face; the anger was gone. He felt peace here, he felt love here.
Besides his sister Sharon Moravec, Gann is survived by his parents, Thomas and Dorothy Gann, of Council Bluffs; sisters Rita Brandt, of Windsor, Mo.; Carol Tinghino, of Rathdrum, Idaho, and Bobbi Gann Boze, of Council Bluffs, and brothers Thomas (Butch) and Jerry, both of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Terry, of McClellan, Iowa, and Larry, of Ascoda, Mich.
A memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. today at Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College in St. Paul. Memorials to Grace House, 4457 3rd Av. S., Minneapolis, are suggested. Arrangements are by the Cremation Society of Minnesota.
~From Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), May 10, 1990 Thur, pg 32.
"I am not a victim," he said in a speech at the 1988 Democratic national convention. "I cannot think of myself as a victim and survive. I am a person with AIDS. I am your brother, son, neighbor, friend, lover...Do not divide the world into 'us' and 'them.' We must understand that we are all 'us.' We are a people with AIDS."
Keith Gann, 36, who died Tuesday at Grace House in south Minneapolis, had been diagnosed with AIDS three years ago. During that time he helped launch PWAlive, a bimonthly newsletter for people affected by the disease. He was its editor for more than two years after it was founded in late 1987.
Gann, formerly of St. Paul, spoke before hundreds of delegates in the televised speech at the convention in Atlanta. He called for more government action, an end to the discrimination against people with AIDS and more money to develop a vaccine and a cure for the disease.
"One of his friends in Alaska was telling me he heard on the news that there were two great speeches given that day, one by Jesse Jackson and the other by Keith Gann," said Gann's sister Sharon Moravec, of McHenry, Ill.
Gann had been co-editor of the Evergreen Chronicle, a literary review. He was a member of ACT UP, the East Metro Area AIDS Task Force and the Arts Over AIDS Task Force. He contributed a panel to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and was featured in a book about the quilt.
"He was empowered," said Perry Tilleraas, a close friend. "Instead of being passive, he was an actor in his own life rather than letting the world happen to him. He was in charge of his life rather than the disease."
Gann was a member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting (Quakers) and was active in the National Organization of Friends.
"He was approached by a single parent to be a male role model for her son, who was 3 years old at the time," said Doug Goodman, who had known Gann since high school. "That was an important part of his life and that was something we did together quite a bit, things with Alex. They became so close. In fact, the night before he died, Alex was there to say goodbye to him."
Gann was a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. he attended the U.S. International College in Sussex, England, and studied at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. He did social work with native children in Alaska's interior. He worked for the Ramsey County Community Human Services Department in St. Paul for about 11 years before his diagnosis with AIDS.
Gann moved to Grace House, a residence for AIDS patients on March 14, his sister said. "I had been with Keith for six months of trying to figure out where he was going to go, she said. "The first time I saw him here I noticed this big change that had come over him. The tension was gone from his face; the anger was gone. He felt peace here, he felt love here.
Besides his sister Sharon Moravec, Gann is survived by his parents, Thomas and Dorothy Gann, of Council Bluffs; sisters Rita Brandt, of Windsor, Mo.; Carol Tinghino, of Rathdrum, Idaho, and Bobbi Gann Boze, of Council Bluffs, and brothers Thomas (Butch) and Jerry, both of Missouri Valley, Iowa; Terry, of McClellan, Iowa, and Larry, of Ascoda, Mich.
A memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. today at Weyerhaeuser Chapel at Macalester College in St. Paul. Memorials to Grace House, 4457 3rd Av. S., Minneapolis, are suggested. Arrangements are by the Cremation Society of Minnesota.
~From Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), May 10, 1990 Thur, pg 32.
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