Mr. Russell E. Cross Obituary

Mr. Russell Eugene Cross, 90, formerly of Albany, GA, died Thursday, September 12, at his residence in Americus, GA. Graveside funeral services will be Monday, September 16, 2:00 p.m., at Crown Hill Cemetery. Dr. Don Adams will officiate. The family will greet friends after the service. Mr. Cross was predeceased by his parents and younger brother, William Roger Cross, and by his wife of sixty-five years, Mary Hemrick Cross, who taught for thirty-eight years in the Dougherty County School System. Mr. Cross was born December 14, 1922, in Macon, GA. He was the son of James Daniel Cross and Hazel Alfred Stirk Cross. His family moved to Jesup, GA, in 1927, where he was active in Boy Scouts and "all the churches in town". He played football and basketball and enjoyed hunting in the Altamaha Swamp and caddying at the Jekyll Island Club. The family moved to Pelham, GA, and Mr. Cross graduated at the top of his class at Pelham High School in 1940. He attended Marion Military Institute, and graduated from Young Harris College. He joined the U.S. Navy in September, 1943, and served in the 3rd, 5th, and 7th Pacific fleets as a navigator on the U.S.S. Wilkes-Barre, a Cleveland class cruiser, which, most notably, fought at the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and rescued the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Bunker Hill after it had been hit by a kamikaze. On September 2, 1945, Mr. Cross witnessed the Japanese surrender on the deck of the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay. After WWII, he graduated from the University of Georgia with a BBS degree from the Business School, and moved to Albany in 1948. The Crosses were members of First United Methodist Church, and charter members of the Fellowship Sunday School Class. Mr. Cross served on First Methodist Church's Board of Stewards, and he was active in V.F.W., the American Legion, the Civitan Club, and the Kiwanis Club, where he served many years as treasurer. He enjoyed playing golf at Radium Springs Country Club and maintained a single digit handicap. Mr. Cross was business and finance manager for various businesses, the last before retirement being Sylvester Textile Company. In 2003, the Crosses moved to Magnolia Manor in Americus, where Mr. Cross hosted the "Coffee Club" twice a week and enjoyed playing his harmonica for friends, for sing-alongs, and for many special occasions. Mr. Cross is survived by his daughter, Jeanie Cross Allen and her husband Richard Eve Allen, Augusta, GA, his granddaughter Katherine Cross Smith, Manhattan, NY; his grandson Randolph Relihan Smith, Jr. and his wife Monica Navarro Smith and their children Randolph Smith, III, Daniel Smith, Maxine Smith, and Louis Smith, Atlanta, GA; his step-grandson Richard Elliott Allen and his wife Sallie Reynolds Allen and their children Wren Allen and Lucie Allen, San Diego, CA; and step-granddaughter Eve Allen Cronje and her husband Adrian Cronje and their children Gibson Cronje and Philip Cronje, Atlanta, GA.

Mr. Russell E. Cross Obituary

December 14, 1922 - September 12, 2013