Deacon Robert Cross, 95, who served the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Diocese of Sioux Falls in South Dakota and the Diocese of Marquette in Michigan, died Oct. 23 on the farm of one of his daughters near Marshall, Minnesota.
A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Deacon Cross served 32 months in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1953, he was accepted into the Presbyterian faith as a minister in 1957, where he served for 10 years. He and his family converted to Catholicism in 1971.
He was ordained a deacon for the archdiocese in 1976 and served in several parishes, including the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, St. Joseph in Taylors Falls, St. Francis Xavier in Shafer and St. Peter in Forest Lake. He moved to South Dakota in 1995 and served as a deacon in the Diocese of Sioux Falls. In 1998, he moved to a home on Lake Michigan, where he served in Manistique, Michigan.
He and his wife, Nancy, had 12 children, including four children who were adopted as orphans.
A private funeral Mass will be held Oct. 31 at St. Joseph in Taylors Falls. Deacon Cross will be interred at Franconia Cemetery in Franconia.
Deacon Cross was preceded in death in March by his wife of 70 years and by two children. The couple is survived by 10 children, 34 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren.
