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Cross, Samuel S.
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Rev. Samnel S. Cross, Obituary
F A I THfU L mini stry of more than
twenty years in the Detroit Conference of th t: :.Ie th odi st Episcopa l Churd1
was bro u ~h t t o a close sudden ly by the
death o f Re\·. Sa mue l S. Cross, pa stor a t
Memphi s, Ju ly 27, 1933. It was in th e
midst of bu sy acti\"iti es o n the charge
which h e ha d se rved but ten mo nths, that
he was stricken and in less tha n a week
the mortal part of him had succumbed to
the severe attack of di sease a nd hi s spirit
qui e tly sli pped ou t to be with God. On
A
·wednesday. July 19, he was with hi s peopl e on a Sunday School picnic ; a week
la ter he wa s nearing the end, having been
out of his pulpit o nly one S unday.
H e is s urvived by the widow and th ree
sons. Harold of Flint, B ert o f St. Charles,
a nd R obert at ho me, who recently graduated fr om the ).'fcmphi s hig h school. F our
bro the rs and two sisters a lso arc living:
R e\·. E. A. Cross, pastor o f the :Met!Jo'dis t Episcopal Ch urch at Fai r Hope,
Alabama; Rev. William ]. Cross, pastor
o f th e Free :Methodist Church at Perry,
:Michigan ; Milto n Cross a nd U riah Cross,
both o f Colling, Michigan; Mrs. Saphronia Timlick, Caro, and Mrs. L ena Hare
of U ni onville.
Born in H a nesville, Ontario, in 1879,
Brothe r Cross came to M ichigan a s a
boy and , after th e death of hi s father,
made his home with an older brother.
He received hi s schooling in the Genesee
Wesleyan Seminary a t Lima, N. Y. He
early felt a call to the minis try but did
n ot v ield to the call a t firs t. However,
wh e~ he had once committed himself t0
the work of th e minis try, he gave himself unreservedly to it and fai thfully
serYcd hi s chu rc h which he dearly loved.
In 1912 he was serving as a s upply at
L o ng Rapids. )..[ ichigan, and th e following year he was admitted to th e Detroit
Confere nce on trial. Applyi ng himsf!lf
fa ithfully to hi s s tudies in the Conference
Course, he was ad vanced each year, being
adm it ted to full membership in the Confer ence in 1915 a nd r eceiving Deacon's
orders at the ha nds of Bishop William
Burt in Port Huron. Gradua ted . from
the Con fe rence Course of S tudy in 19 17
he was ordained E lder in Court Stree t
Church, F lint, by Bishop Freder ick D.
L ee te. Thi s was in the m idst of a three
year pastorate at Parkerville, foll owin g a
bri ef term a t \iVilso n.
Pastorates foll owed at T rout Lake,
Smith's Crossing, Tawas City, S t.
Charles, Byron and Dansvill e. In September, 1933, Brother Cross came ont o
the Port Huron District for the firs t time
a nd was s ta ti oned at M em phi s, where h e
took up the w ork with such vigor and
sympathetic interes t tha t a notable pasto rate was in prospect. He fe ll in love
with the place and with the people of
the Memphi s and Lamb churches and
wa nted only to ser ve them t o the very
lim it o f his s tre ng th a nd a bility. He had
grea t hopes for the de\·elop ment and
s trength e ning of t he parish a nd was can\·ass ing th e poss ibility of extending his
work to take in a parish to the east of
Mem Jhi s when he was s tricken.
If we had had our way he would have
been spared to see hi s dreams rea lize J.
But now he has entered into his res t a nd
someone else m us t take up the task and
carry on th e work which he wanted t0
:<ee accomplished. l\by the Yision wh ich
he had of the possibilities of th e Lord's
wo rk in thi s part of h is vineyard be
caught by the people of th e church':!s
which he served, that they may carry on
and make t he work of God g lorious there.
Brother Cross was a fa ith ful preacher
of the vVord. His minist ry was s incere
aad deeply spiri tual, but without h obbies
or idiosyncracies. H e ha d the heart of
a pastor and ca rried his mini stry in to the
homes of his cons tituency, w innin gfr ie nds for the church.
A ·la rge number of r ela tiv es, friends ,
pa rishi oners and brothers of the m inistry
gath ered at the church in Memph is Saturday afternoon, July 29, to pay tribu te to
th i~ sen·an t o f God. The service wa s directed by th e Dis trict Superintende nt,
Re\·. Frank ),[. Field, who deli\·ered the
fune ral ~e rmon. Re\·. ]. A. H a lmhuber,
superinte ndent of the A nn Arb or dis tri ct,
where B roth er Cross served before coming to Memphi s, spoke a personal w ord
concerning his min istry, representing the
Detroit Con fe rence. R ev. Mr. Wolfe of
the ).[emphi s Cong regational Church a nd
Re\·. ~ ~ r. Lininger of the local Free
:V[ethodi st Church, r e pre se nt ed the
churches of Memphis and vicinity in th e
funera l service. Prayer s were offe red by
R e\·. Gordon M. \'\Tood and Rev. F . D.
1\'[umby, former pa stors at Memphis. Six
broth er minis ters served as bearer s, R ev.
George Marsh, Rev. E . H ocking, Rev. A.
P. La ndon, R ev. Bruce Davis, Rev. H. G .
Bushong, and Rev. J oseph Blackmore.
Other min is ters present were Rev. Frank
H a rtl ey, R e\·. \'\T .M. Ward, Rev. C. B.
S teele, R ev. Parley Bingham and ReY.
Frank B en ish. Burial was in the beautifu l .Memphi s cemetery.
The pu lpits at Memp hi s and Lamb will
be supplied until Con ference time by the
sup erintendent a nd minist ers of the Port
Huron Distric t a nd Mrs. Cross and her
so n, R obert, will remain in the pa rsonag e
for the present-Fra nk M. Field.
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N O. 3. FOR A QU ARTERLY OR DISTRICT CONFERENCE
JLocal ~reacbtr' ~
JLictn~t
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
ful~~:~L~~~~~~~~fo~=,~~ ~~~ :~:s~:r::~i::d
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duly recommended, we judge that he is a suitable person to be licensed as a
JLotal lQreatbtr in the
~dbobi~t ~pi~topal
€burtb, and we accordingly
ll
authorize him to preach the Gospel , subject to the requirement s of the
Discipline of said Church.
Q:\-"-~\:\t~~·· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·Conference
of the...... fSl(\.~\Y\!:llil::...>2.1;A~. . . . .... . District of the....... )1~\lK... . . . ..... . . . . .. . . .
Signed by order of the.....................................................
\J.Q...?!..~.-~'S...,........X'<\\.~~·7!.\.!\....... . . ... .. t his
Annual Conference. held at_...............
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~x:.~.rtfu = . . .day of..................... s\Q~.I.I:'I) .~.r................... 19.JJ ...
. ,~~./!:.. . ..tia.fR.i.w:.~. . . . . . . . . . President
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TO BE REN EWED AT LAST DISTRICT OR QUARTERLY CONFEREN CE OF EACH CONFERENCE YEAR
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Cross, Samuel S.