Lauren Elizabeth Cross
December 19,1962 – February 24, 2023
Lauren Elizabeth Cross, 60, passed away unexpectedly Friday, February 24, 2023, at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital – Forest, after complications due to recent health issues.
Lauren was born December 19, 1962, at Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn., and spent her earliest years in Wallingford, Conn., moving to Amherst, Mass., when she was 3, then to Barrington, R.I., when she was 10. She returned to Wallingford, Conn., at age 14 and graduated from Lyman Hall High School in 1980, before attending Southern Connecticut State University. Kind, generous, and always optimistic, Lauren was a happy and fun-loving child who played games with her two older siblings and treasured annual vacations to Cape Cod, Mass. and Ogunquit, Maine. She had fun swimming, attending parties with friends and going to Warwick Mall (RI) with her sister.
With an enjoyment of reading and a proficiency in mathematics, she excelled in school. She loved joining her sister, future brother-in-law, and his fellow international university students on educational summer trips, especially the one to Old Sturbridge Village (MA). In 1978, she proudly served as her sister’s Maid of Honor. In the 1980s, she listened to Duran Duran, The Human League, and others of the era and had a brief stint as a Frank Zappa fan. She soaked-up live music at Toad’s Place in New Haven and traveled to Maine to see Supertramp with her brother. She moved to Fredericksburg, Va., in 1983, and spent a year with her sister’s family, playing with and helping care for her toddler nephew.
After a few years, life brought her to Richmond, where she enjoyed living in The Fan, with its fun markets and eateries, and she deepened her love of music and nature. She spent time at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and took her brother’s children there when they visited. She was a member of the River City Blues Society of Virginia and supported indie stations WNRN and WXPN. In 2010, she met her dear Sammy while seeing Charlie Musslewhite, and they went on to see Experience Hendrix, Music of David Bowie, Adam Ant, Berlin, INXS, Beck, Johnny Winter, Record Company, Jimmy Thackery, and more. A highlight was supporting local band-friends, The Bush League, in Memphis, Tenn., during the International Blues Challenge.
Lauren began her professional career in graphic design and was on the cutting edge of digital imaging. Over the next decades, in Richmond, she expanded her technology skillset and honed her expertise with producing digital assets and managing content for marketing and advertising. During her time with The Martin Agency, she contributed to an international marketing campaign for a Fortune 500 company. Having worked freelance throughout her career, she eventually chose to operate her own consultancy and most recently was an integral part of the creation and publication of content for a major international sporting goods company. Both personally and professionally, she will be remembered for her skill and thoughtfulness.
Lauren bought a beautiful home which she shared with her mother, known as “Miss T”; to Sammy, during her mother’s final years. She greatly enjoyed Tune Time (porch time), listening to music, baking, grilling, cooking, making delicious shared meals to show her love, and watching the hawks, deer, many varieties of birds, and other wildlife that visited her yard. She was also passionate about ancestry and genealogy and extensively researched her family’s history, excitedly sharing details she uncovered.
Lauren is survived by her best friend and close companion, Sammy Miner, of Richmond, Va.; brother, Dave Cross and his children, Julia and Ethan, of Farmingdale, Maine; brother-in-law Dr. Debendra Das of Fairbanks, Alaska, and his son, Sunit (Michelle) and their daughter, Supriya of Midvale, Utah.
She was preceded in death by her older sister, Kate Cross-Das; and her parents, Bertrand and Theresa (Moran) Cross.
The family will hold private celebrations of life in some of her favorite places, and will update this page with dates and times of public celebrations.
Sammy, I am so sorry for your loss. Lauren sounds like she was a wonderful and gifted person. Don’t be afraid to lean on your friends.
Jo Garland
I am so sad to see this. I worked with Lauren and she had a brilliant mind. She was an amazing photoshop professional and trained me generously. She will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to her close friends and family
Lauren was a wonderful human being. She was fun to be with. She was generous, sincere, hard working and self reliant. When she was in high school. she excelled in athletics.
Lauren was deeply loved by her Big Sis Kath, and deeply enjoyed playing with her nephew when he was a toddler.
She fought her illness valiantly, and despite her brave efforts, she was taken from this good Earth too early.
She will be sorely missed.
Be at peace, my sister Lauren.
With loving memory,
Your brother in law Deben
I’m so very sorry to see Lauren has passed. We became friends the moment she moved to Grandview Ave. We spent our high school years walking to school together, listening to those Frank Zappa records, crying over our first heartbreaks, recovering from them at Toads Place and the Park, and experienced all of the joys and sorrows of teenage years. We navigated those years as a team and she was the most caring person and true friend. She was an amazing daughter to her parents and devoted sister. Your memory and friendship will live forever in a teenage movie in my heart. “