Dr. Shirley G. Cross

I regret being so late in sharing this memory from long ago, but I trust it will be appreciated even so and welcome. One Valentine's Day your mother provided our class at H.T. Wing Elementary School with a gift of doilies, red construction paper, pictures of flowers, and envelopes to make cards to take home to our loved ones. She may have delivered these materials in-person and even stayed to help with our execution. Sadly, I don't recall meeting her, but whether I did or not seems immaterial now. The kindness of her gesture and thought is as salient all these years later as if it happened yesterday.

Shirley was my mother's cousin. I remember visiting her and sleeping in the loft. My condolences to the family.

Shirley Gale Cross was a gifted plant taxonomist. Her thesis work on the difficult and complex sedge genus Rhynchospora continues to be a guiding light for those working with the native flora of the eastern U.S. She is missed, but she will be remembered.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you. We are thinking of you in this time of sorrow. God Bless .