Nelson Armstrong Cross
CROSS, Nelson Armstrong, 87, Maine and Florida, at Fort Pierce, FL, July 7, 2016. Graveside services will be held at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Dexter, on July 30, 2016, at 10 a.m.
Nelson Armstrong Cross
Nelson Armstrong “Trapper” Cross, age 87, passed away on July 7, 2016, at Treasure Coast Hospice House in Fort Pierce, FL, after a long illness. He was born in Greenville, ME, to Donald Harvey and Iva Mabel (Wood) Cross.
Nelson graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, PA, in 1946. He served with the Marines on Guam and in China 30 miles from the Great Wall but never saw it.
He attended the University of Maine at Brunswick and the Bentley School in Boston on the GI Bill. Early in his work life, he did bookkeeping for Guilford Trust Bank and Fay Scott. He was a real estate partner with A.T. Gellerson flipping houses before that was a thing. He worked at Gellerson’s in Dover-Foxcroft from 1950 until he purchased the business in 1976. He sold the business in 1983 and retired at age 55. He lived in Jensen Beach, FL, and eventually Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce.
Nelson was in the Hall of Fame of the Indian River Shuffleboard Club. He was a long time pro and head tournament director for the CECD Shuffleboard Club.
He was predeceased by his parents; his sister, Marilyn McGaffin and her husband, Jim; his second wife, Mary; stepson, Forest “Bushy” Simmons.
He is survived by his wife, Judy of Fort Pierce; the mother of his children, Rosalie Leighton, of Guilford; daughter, Joan Forester and her husband, William, of Madera, CA; son, Stephen Cross and his wife, Kara, of North Berwick, ME; stepchildren, Becky (Wayne) Carr, Bonnie (Jerry) Mercado, Gordon Simmons, Kelsey (Robyn) Simmons, David (Sue) Mooers, Rick (Lisa) Mooers, Robert (Leslie) Mooers, Holly (Dave) Fontaine, and Heather (Mike) Dykes; 26 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.
Graveside services will be held at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Dexter, on July 30 at 10 a.m. In lieu of traditional expressions of sympathy, you may make donations to the charity of your choice or Treasure Coast Hospice at 5000 Dunn Rd., Fort Pierce, FL 34981.