Vera Lydia Cross

Photo:

Vera Lydia Cross

GREENWOOD — Vera Lydia Cross, 93, of Greenwood, died Thursday, June 28, 2012 at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway. She was born January 3, 1919, on Rowe Hill in Greenwood, the youngest child of Elton L. and Mabel C. (Morgan) Dunham. She married Charles Everett Cross on January 23, 1938, and they settled on Howe Hill in Greenwood. After years of spending summers on their hillside farm and winters in Locke Mills, in 1968 they bought a house in the village, where she would live for the rest of her life. Mr. Cross died June 11, 1985.

In her early life she took care of children and kept house for their mothers. She was later employed at Ekco Wood Products in Locke Mills, and in her retirement years worked in the day care center at the Mount Abram ski lodge.

Mrs. Cross was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary for more than 66 years. She served for many years as treasurer of the Jackson-Silver Post, and for five decades as the unit’s Poppy Chairwomen. She was also a past president of the Oxford County Council, American Legion and Auxiliary. She was a longtime member of the Locke Mills Union Church and visited local nursing homes as a member of the church’s visiting committee. She was also a member of the Ladies Circle, the Locke Mills Community Club and the Greenwood Historical Society.

She never slowed until the last days of her life, and never ceased to be a positive and cheerful presence in the lives of her family, friends and neighbors. Though she had no children of her own, she was dearly loved by her nieces and nephews, and was the honorary matriarch of the Dunham and Cross families. She was “Aunt Vera” to generations of children beyond her family.

Mrs. Cross is survived by many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held at the Jackson-Silver Post #68 American Legion, Gore Rd. in Greenwood on Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 1 p.m. with Pastor Sondra Withey officiating. Burial will be in the family lot at Riverside Cemetery, Bethel. Rather than sending flowers, the family respectfully requests memorials in her memory be made to the Locke Mills Union Church, Greenwood or to the Jackson-Silver Post Auxiliary. Arrangements under the direction of Cliff Gray Cremation & Funeral Services, 60 Andrews Road, Bryant Pond.