VERA CROSS, Obituary

Vera E. Cross, 83, died Monday, April 1, 2002, at a Havre hospital due to natural causes.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Fifth Avenue Christian Church with burial following in Highland Cemetery.

Cross was born Feb. 3, 1919, in Havre to Millard and Lela (Murphy) Dumas. She was raised in the Bear Paw Mountains, attended school at Warrick and graduated from Havre High School.

Vera taught school at the Lower Dog Creek School near Warrick in 1943-44. She also worked as a waitress in Oregon and for the M.D. Maxwell and Ted Fabor ranch doing cooking, cleaning and other ranch duties.

Vera married Virgil Cross on Feb. 3, 1945, in Great Falls. They purchased a small ranch east of Havre in 1950 and lived there ever since.

She was a 4-H leader for 36 years with the Happy Havre 4-H Club. She was Hill County 4-H Leader of the Year in 1982.

Vera's hobbies included ceramics, 4-H, riding horses, painting, gardening and yard design. She enjoyed traveling throughout the United States and attending 4-H regional leadership forums.

She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers Jack, Forrest and Hugh Dumas.

Survivors include her husband, Virgil Cross of Havre; daughters, Carolyn (Roy) Beck of Palmer, Alaska, Shirley (Rusty) Kinkade of Thompson Falls; son, Marvin (Leian French) Cross of Havre; brothers, Lynn (Linda) Dumas of Big Sandy, Allen (Merrilee) Dumas of Dixonville, Alberta, Canada; sister-in-law, Marion Dumas of Havre; uncle, Glen (Pat) Murphy of St. Ignatius; seven grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be sent to the Hill County 4-H Foundation, 315 Fourth St., Havre, MT 59501, or Montana 4-H Foundation, P.O. Box 173580, Bozeman, MT 59717-3580.

Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.