Gloria P. Cross, 97, of Elizabethtown, was born June 8, 1929, and went to be with her Lord and Savior on September 2, 2026. Gloria was born in Lewis, NY and was the youngest of five children born to Frank and Evva (Cutting) Dickerson. She was predeceased by her husband, Donald James (Mike) Cross; her parents; her brothers, Willis and Richard Dickerson; her sisters Marion Doak and Alma Hooper; and son-in-law Paul E. Stradley.

She is survived by her son, James (Denise) Cross of Plattsburgh, NY and their son Michael (Catherine) Cross, and their son James Fuquay Varina, NC, their daughter Jennifer Cross of Plattsburgh, NY, and her children Shawn Hazen and Colin Cross; her daughter Michele Cross Stradley, and her children with the late Paul E. Stradley, son Sean (Sarah) Stradley of Tupper Lake, NY, and their son, Paul Stradley of Tupper Lake, and his daughter Addison Stradley, his son Kiley Stradley, Rensselaer, NY, his daughter Kaylee Stradley and her fiancé Kyle LaVare of Tupper Lake, NY, and their sons Colton and Lincoln LaVare, and son Jacob (Lila) Stradley of Menands, NY; and Michele's daughter Alison (Keith) Neligan, Marlboro, NY, and their daughter Claire and their son Liam. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Born at the start of the Great Depression, she learned the value of family friendship and hard work, whether it was on the farm as a child, working at the Meadowmount School of Music as a teenager, being a plane spotter during World War II, selling Avon, a cafeteria worker at the school proudly specializing in from scratch desserts, and finally a typist at Essex County DSS from which she eventually retired in 1984.

Gloria graduated from Elizabethtown and Lewis Central School, located at what is now the Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown where you can still see separate Boys and Girls entrances at different ends of the building, a symbol of tradition long since forgotten. She graduated in June 1948 and married her husband, James Donald Cross, affectionately known as "Mike" on June 30, 1948.

She truly enjoyed dancing at the Grange Hall in Lewis, NY where she won multiple dance competitions in many dance styles. She enjoyed ice skate dancing at Austin's pond in Elizabethtown, golfing, bowling, knitting, and ceramics. She was also into catering, baking and decorating wedding cakes. Due to the loss of her husband at the age of 29 and having to raise her two young children on her own, she had a tenacity of providing for her family which carried through from her children to her great-great-grandchildren. She especially loved spending time with her family and cooking and baking with them, and having large celebrations. She was a ferocious reader and often bragged about having read every book in the school library and was known to read novels in just a matter of days.

A lifelong dream of hers was to travel to all 50 states. She visited 49 states, many of them multiple times, but one kept eluding her. She finally accomplished her dream checking the final state off her journey by visiting Alaska in 2008 with her daughter.

At Gloria's request there will be no calling hours and there will be a private ceremony at the convenience of the family.

Arrangements were entrusted to Heidrick-Zaumetzer Funeral Home, PO Box 127, 3 College St., Au Sable Forks, NY 12912.