James Edward "Gracie" Detzler

1943 - 1997  (54 years)

• Name	James Edward "Gracie" Detzler
  Born	29 Jan 1943	Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Misfortune	1990	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada
  	murdered
  Residence	1990	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-342684
  Died	28 May 1997	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Buried	New Hope Cemetery, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I342684	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Alfred Joseph "Alfie" Detzler,   b. 29 Mar 1914, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 12 Feb 1990, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Vera Emma Bettschen,   b. 13 Jun 1919, Dashwood, Hay Township, Huron Co., Ontario ,   d. 20 May 2008, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 88 years)
  Family ID	F60432	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  16 NEWS Slain man met accused in They were lovers in Kingston, source says By DAVE RIDER Toronto Sun Saying he was "just fed up" with life in Cambridge, Jim Detzler struck east to Toronto where he could meet other gay men and indulge his twin passions of sewing and cooking. After some 30 years and a term in jail - where he was known as cross-dressing "Gracie" and met his accused murderer \emdash the 54-year-old was found drowned and beaten late Friday in another man's bathtub. Police say he was killed late Wednesday in an apartment off Jarvis St. "This (murder) just shocked me," Detzler's brother-in-law, Don Orton, said yesterday from Cambridge, where the slain man's mother, brother and two sisters still live. "About 30 years ago, Jim moved to Toronto where nobody knew him. He was just fed up with things here and wanted to be on his own," Orton said, adding his homosexuality was no secret. Liked to sew and cook "He loved the big city. He had friends down there where he was a seamstress and he cooked." Steven Todd Craig, 26, released on federal parole only three weeks ago, is charged with first-degree murder. A lawyer called police with directions to the body of Detzler, an epileptic living on a disability pension in a Sherbourne St. apartment. The pair met in Kingston Penitentiary and became lovers, said a former jailmate who spoke on condition of anonymity. Slain man met accused in jail They were lovers in Kingston, source say. Acted like a woman Detzler, average height and stocky, was released about a year and a half ago after serving a five-year sentence for a non-fatal stabbing during a fight, said the ex-inmate. He affected the mannerisms of a woman, was known to guards and other inmates as "Gracie," and spent much of his time behind bars sewing, said the ex-inmate and a Corrections Canada source. "He wasn't a violent guy. "He didn't deserve to go that way, no matter what," said the ex-inmate, who bumped into Detzler on the street after his release. Orton said early yesterday he hadn't reached his wife to tell her about her brother's fate. She is in Florida visiting Disney World with their 13-year-old grandson who has deadly leukemia \emdash on a trip provided by the Make A Child Smile foundation.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/224725217/james-edward-detzler.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 29 Jan 1943 - Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Misfortune - murdered - 1990 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Residence - 1990 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Died - 28 May 1997 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Buried - - New Hope Cemetery, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth