On Sunday, Sept. 15, before kicking off the Indiana AIDS Walk at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, the health and social activists who organized the fundraiser gathered to honor advocates and those who have lost their lives to the disease.
This year, among those honored was Paula Diane French, who died on March 31, 2024 — just a few days after turning 75. She was known by her friends and associates as a force. She was the co-founder of STEP-UP, a statewide organization that focused on HIV/AIDS services, testing, education and prevention.
Over the 35 years, the Indiana AIDS Walk has raised money for the Gregory R. Powers Direct Emergency Financial Assistance program, or DEFA, which provides resources for Hoosiers who are living with HIV/AIDS, including medicine, clothes and food, dental care appointments and transportation. This year alone, the AIDS Walk has raised $142,756 so far. An award that will go to the individual who raises the most funds was named in French’s honor.
Just a few months before the HIV/AIDS Walk, on the same day as the solar eclipse, friends and family said their goodbyes to French at Crown Hill Cemetery. It was fitting, as some noticed, that April 8 was also the anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Ryan White, an Indiana native who died in 1990 of AIDS-related complications, and whose name is associated with several funds and organizations that focus on HIV/AIDS around the country. White’s funeral was only about 30 miles up the road in Cicero, Ind.
In attendance at the Indiana AIDS Walk were French’s friends and family members, including Heather Dane, her daughter. Dane recalled how close her mother was to her brother, Steven Eric Poe, who inspired French to get involved in HIV/AIDS activism after his death from AIDS-related complications in 1994 at age 40.
“He was always around when we were growing up,” Dane said about “Uncle Steve,” who was active in the Indy theater scene and was a hairstylist. He hosted Barbie parties for his nieces and styled their hair.
Poe is memorialized in the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a project that has been displayed at the National Mall in Washington D.C. and can also be seen online. His panel was exhibited at the Church Within in 2023, where French was able to see it one more time, shortly after her diagnosis of breast cancer.
‘Let me tell you about my brother …’
French was born on March 27, 1949, in Connersville, Ind. It was there that she met, fell in love with and married Gary French, her husband of 59 years. They had two daughters, Tammy and Heather, and a son, Michael.
She loved sports — the Colts were her favorite team — along with politics, cooking and shopping. Not only did she always have a twinkle in her eye, but one colleague noted that “her hair and nails were always on point, and her purse was always the height of fashion.”
In 1995, French founded and managed Youth at Risk, part of Indiana CARES, by organizing youth peer groups that discussed HIV/AIDS. That organization promoted safer sex practices, as well as compassion for those living with HIV/AIDS.
Gina Pope-King, the care coordinator at Eskenazi Health Infectious Diseases Clinic, was a teenager when she met French, who spoke at her high school during AIDS Awareness Week. She said French changed her life.
“I joined the Youth at Risk program,” she said. “Paula knew that teenagers were most likely to listen to somebody that looked like them.” Pope-King has now worked in the HIV field for over 20 years.
Around that time, in October 1996, 40,000 panels of the National AIDS Memorial Quilt were on display in Washington, D.C. It was the last time the entire quilt was displayed at that location, drawing approximately 1.2 million visitors. Dane, who was 20, traveled with her mother on a bus with other Indiana-based HIV/AIDS activists to see the quilt and to march in Washington.
She remembers meeting people from around the country, but also recalled counter protesters along the march “saying very hateful things.”
“We also met with legislators to talk about funding for HIV/AIDS, explaining that it did not just affect the gay community. We gave them a holistic perspective,” she said. “It was one of those times that just sparked for me that this is her calling.”
In 2003, French co-founded STEP-UP. She retired in October 2017, but supported the cause as a consultant, and was often seen around town at the Indiana AIDS Walk, Spotlight Indy and other notable events promoting advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS.
“Paula had the innate ability to help people feel comfortable and at ease,” said Stephen Everett, who considered French a mentor while working at the Indiana Community AIDS Action Network with local HIV community action groups. Everett is now the vice president of programs for the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis.
“Paula could get a door opened — she could get facetime to have a conversation. She would start by saying, ‘Let me tell you about my brother …’”
At memorial events, it is not uncommon to speak about legacy. In the case of French, the relationships she formed are part of that.
“Paula took me under her wing and helped to mold me,” said Jill Stowers, who is the director of IU Health Positive Link.
Stowers and French crossed paths and worked for over 20 years, leading AIDS service organizations. “But I don’t think any of those things is her legacy. It is us,” she said. “The many people she guided, mentored and loved. The people she taught to lead. The people she taught to love. We are her legacy.”
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
