Maxine Elaine Cross

She was born on Feb. 23, 1935, in Spokane, Washington to Reese and Bessie Bennett as an only child.

She earned her diploma in nursing in 1955 from Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. Her career in nursing was primarily as an occupational health nurse, as she worked at variety of companies: including Kaiser Aluminum in Mead, Washington; Ephrata Public Schools in Ephrata, Washington; Owens Corning Fiberglass in Seattle; and finally The Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle. She retired in 2000.

After retirement, she returned to school and attended Grays Harbor Community College and The Evergreen State College. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communicative Arts with an emphasis in Arts Management.

Maxine loved music and the arts. In her early years, she spent hours learning ice skating and painting. She returned to ice skating and paired ice dancing competitions as an adult. While living in Aberdeen, Washington, she taught piano lessons and coordinated the Youth Musical showcase at 7th Street Theatre. However, her greatest musical love was playing the classical guitar. She spent years learning classical guitar which included traveling to Japan, England and Germany in that pursuit. She was an avid gardener and became involved with Grays Harbor Master Gardeners. Her specialty was keeping a family garlic growing tradition alive.

She enjoyed sailing and lived on a boat for 15 years. In the ‘90s, Maxine was elected the first female Commander of the Bellevue Power and Sail Squadron. She loved to travel and visited the following countries: France (many times), Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, England, Turkey, Morocco and South America — visiting the countries of Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

She is survived by her two children Mark Cross and Ann Cross and her grandchildren; Merrigan Risvold, Sophia Risvold, Eli Cross and Nathan Cross.