ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER THE ROANOKE TIMES
On Wednesday, 350 people packed Lotz's Roanoke Chapel for his funeral, the largest crowd there since former Roanoke Vice Mayor Howard Musser died last year.
People recognized Lake Erie Downing not by name, but by appearance.
He was short - about 5 feet tall - had a little belly and was slightly disfigured by a birth defect that left his head tilted to one side. When he got dressed up - not too flashy, usually - he often stood outside The Park, a mostly gay dance club on Salem Avenue in Southwest Roanoke, beckoning to passing motorists.
Lake Erie was a female impersonator for almost half of his 50 years. He died last Friday, at home, while napping. He had gone shopping at Happy's Flea Market earlier in the day, a friend said.
On Wednesday, 350 people packed Lotz Funeral Home's Roanoke Chapel for Lake Erie's funeral, the largest crowd there since former Roanoke Vice Mayor Howard Musser died last year. Twice as many attended his visitation Monday and Tuesday.
Most of Lake Erie's friends knew him by his stage name: Miss Rosa.
He could follow "the most beautiful, glamorous female impersonator in the world" and still earn better tips, said longtime friend Melvin Whitaker - who performs as "Anita Mann."
Lake Erie's performances technically were not the best; he never seemed to know the words to any of the songs, which led his friends to say he was lip-syncing the lyrics in French. But the crowd loved him.
"She wasn't the most attractive female impersonator, but she was by far the most popular," Whitaker said. "She had her own style. She was just Rosa."
Rosa could rake in $100 for a three-minute performance; the dollar bills had to be swept into dustpans, he said.
Friends remembered Lake Erie's generosity and individuality.
"Rosa was a very special person in a lot of people's hearts," said Mark Martin, a funeral director at Lotz. "He was somebody who stood out in the crowd.
"He never forgot anybody, or anything anybody ever did for him."
He was always the first to volunteer to perform in "drag" shows at The Park to benefit worthy causes, said a friend.
"He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it," said his sister, Natalie Brower.
Some who didn't know Lake Erie picked on him and made fun of his unusual appearance, Whitaker said. "Some people thought they could say anything and do anything to her, as though she had no feelings."
Martin agreed. "People didn't really want to get to know him, because he was different."
But friends said Lake Erie didn't harbor ill will toward those who teased him.
"If she had bitterness in her heart toward someone, she got it out of her system, and that was it," Whitaker said.
Brower said her brother was always happy and managed to seem so even as people ridiculed him. The family was very protective of Lake Erie, whose mother nicknamed him Pookie as a child.
His second family was Roanoke's gay community and patrons of The Park, Whitaker said.
"Miss Rosa" was sort of The Park's mascot. Several years ago, Lake Erie was given the title "Miss Park - Now and Forever."
The title was one he had not competed for, but over the years, he had entered pageants all over the region.
Lake Erie's celebrity also reached the Roanoke Police Department, where he was known for years as a regular in the city's red light district.
Lake Erie's friends didn't ask about his personal life. They just accepted him for who he was, Whitaker said.
One of the last outings Whitaker had with Lake Erie was a bus trip to Charlotte to see the Miss Gay America pageant, a competition for female impersonators.
When Lake Erie got on the bus, he was wearing a little black skirt, a plain green shirt and some deck shoes with a hole in the toe. His hair was down.
By the time they got to Charlotte, a dramatic transformation had taken place.
As "Miss Rosa," he stepped off the bus in high heels. He was wearing a silver sequined dress and a fur coat. His hair was swept up in a twist, and he wore a crown.
"You would have thought we were escorting Miss America to the pageant," Whitaker said. He thought he was the most beautiful woman there, and they treated him like he was, "because to us, Rosa was beautiful."
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB