//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-life-panel.jpg

Heddy Cross

March 18, 1933 - September 13, 2014
Vicksburg, MI

//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-01.jpg



Visitation

Sunday, September 21, 2014
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM EDT
Lakeland Reformed Church
10442 South Sprinkle Road
Vicksburg, MI 49097
(269) 649-1703
Map
Web Site

Service

Monday, September 22, 2014
11:00 AM EDT
Lakeland Reformed Church
10442 South Sprinkle Road
Vicksburg, MI 49097
(269) 649-1703
Map
Web Site

Contributions


At the family's request memorial contributions are to be made to those listed below. Please forward payment directly to the memorial of your choice.

Lakeland Kids Hope USA
10442 S. Sprinkle Road
Vicksburg, MI 49097
(269) 649-1703
Web Site

ALS Association
PO Box 6051
AlbertLea, MN 56007
(888) 949-2577
Web Site

SPCA
6955 West KL Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
(269) 344-1474
Web Site

Flowers


Below is the contact information for a florist recommended by the funeral home.

Wedel's Nursery Florist & Garden Center
5020 Texas Drive
Kalamazoo, MI 49009
(269) 345-1195
Driving Directions

Heirloom Rose
407 S. Grand St.
Schoolcraft, MI 49087
(269) 679-3010
Driving Directions
Web Site

Life Story / Obituary


//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/view-life-story-video.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-02.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-03.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-04.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-05.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/download-memory-folder.jpg
Print

Heddy escaped the confines of her Hospice bed and skated her way into Heaven on Saturday afternoon Sept. 13, 2014. Never one to take no for an answer, when her parents declared dancing verboten she laced up her roller skates and taught them to do her dancing. Heddy was called on over and over again to fill the roll of family caretaker but she never, ever, forgot to have fun. Every Christmas morning she would put on those precious skates and dance around her kitchen just to prove she still had it!

Born Henrietta on March 18, 1933 in Kalamazoo, MI. Eddy, as she was called because the family numbered four more Henriettas older then she, was the youngest child of Lambert and Minnie Dieterman. Both her parents were Dutch immigrants that had arrived in America as young children at the turn of the twentieth century. The strong Dutch culture, with an emphasis on faith and hard work, sustained her close knit family through the First World War, in which her father served, the Great Depression, which plagued the world she was born into, and World War II, which made a lasting impression on young Eddy.

Eddy spoke often of life during the war; the silver star in their window indicating the family of a serviceman, challenges to see which schoolroom could collect the most metal for the war effort, her father patrolling the neighborhood during blackouts with a special lantern that could not be seen from the sky and the Red Cross truck pulling into the neighborhood, which meant another son was lost. She idolized her older sisters, Margie, Curly and Lee. Most of all she spoke of her only brother, Henry. How she worried for him after he was wounded in France and what a spectacular day it was when the family and neighbors piled into a pickup truck to find Henry, home on leave, and tell him the Germans had surrendered.

Eddy's indomitable sense of fun made her a handful for her staid Dutch parents. She was sent to Christian school to “shape up” but she refused to let anyone quell her passion for life. One of her favorite pastimes was driving with her sister, Lee, to the tiny community of Vicksburg where, it seems, the boys were far more interesting.

On August 19, 1954, she married one those Vicksburg boys,Thomas Cross. Together they managed to raise four fabulous human beings, Vicki, Kim, Tom & Todd. In 1959 they bought a house in a hot new subdivision on Sunset Lake and opened Tom Cross Shell on Prairie St. Tom's name was on the door, but Eddy was a full partner. In 1964 when Tom and her brother-in-law, Bob, dreamed of creating a place for teens to gather it was Eddy and her sister, Lee, that kept the Sugar Shack on Main St. open for business. And when Tom changed careers Eddy wasn't left behind. This time she recruited her sister, Marge, to join her and the two of them sold real estate together for many years.

Childhood was idyllic on Waterview Drive. Tom and Eddy were the hip, cool parents every kid wanted. The neighborhood naturally gathered at the Cross house where pet shows and talents shows existed harmoniously with frozen tag, eeney,-inney-over and ditchum. They built a beach and a waterfall in the backyard. The garage was usually full of frogs and turtles. A collie was always roaming around and when the first color TV in the neighborhood wasn't on (which was rarely) rock n roll blasted from the HI FI. Eddy was obsessed with teaching her children and grandchildren to walk at a very young age, ride those bicycles and skip. It seemed skipping was very important! And since her parents could no longer keep her from dancing, her kids became her dancing partners and learned to stroll, jitterbug, twist and limbo.

In the early seventies Tom and Eddy bought a gorgeous piece of property in Newaygo County with close friends. For many years weekends were spent in the beautiful north woods. Adventure was abundant for adults and children, alike. Floating down the river on inner tubes became a favorite pastime.

Children becoming adults meant new people in, and out, of Eddy's life. She fussed over those new additions and went out of her way to make them welcome. Grandchildren began arriving in 1973 and Eddy was as dedicated to being an involved grandparent as she was a parent. She shared her love of skating, spending many Saturday mornings at the roller rink dazzling her impressionable grandchildren, Kelly, Matt and Rick. Jacob, Michael and Alex followed many years later, but she didn't fail them. She hung a swing from a beam inside her house and pushed them for many hours. Christmases were huge and Grandma could be counted on for Griswald style decorations long before Christmas Vacation was released. The presents weren't too shabby either.

Eddy loved to play games! When the family was young Sunday nights meant cards with the Remynses and the much anticipated dinner from a new little restaurant in town, McDonald's. Not only was cheating not frowned upon, it was expected and the kids were often recruited to cough up valuable information against one parent or the other. Years later Sundays were spent around Eddy's kitchen table playing Yahtzee. After church her kids would grab some food and head to Mom's. Little changed over the years. Though far less anticipated, it was usually still McDonald's and she still might cheat.

In 1984 Tom, Sr. was diagnosed with ALS. The two had divorced three years earlier, but Eddy and Tom remarried and faced the next two gruesome years with much love, a bit of grace and a lot of humor. It seemed that caretaker became her second act. She raised her grandson, Rick, never missing a Portage Central football game while he played halfback for the championship teams of 1995 & 96. And then, just as Marge had looked out for her little sister, Eddy began looking after Marge, checking in on her daily. Eddy was compelled to reach out to anyone that needed help. Eddy was fierce when it came to the well being of the people she loved!

Poor thing! She hated her name! The quickest way to get her goat was to call her Henrietta. When she started selling real estate many people expected Eddy to be a man, so in the early 80s Eddy worked up her courage and asked her mother if it would be too big a wound if she applied for a legal name change.

With her mother's blessing Henrietta Minnie became Heddy M.

Heddy also had the joy of becoming a great grandmother. In her belongings family discovered a framed envelope. It was addressed to Grandma Great, the monicker given her by her first grandchild, Anna. Heddy fretted over the fact that she couldn't be as active in the lives of her youngest great grandchildren, Thomas and Arya. She wanted desperately for them to know how much she loved them.

After Tom, Sr. died in 1986 Heddy embarked on the longest romantic relationship of her life with Monte Barrett. Monte loved to dance and finally she could replace her skates with dancing shoes. For more than two decades they ate together, played cards with close friends, traveled a bit and headed to the north woods and the casinos. A few years ago Monte became her housemate and far too soon after, her caretaker. His deep devotion allowed Heddy to remain in her home almost to the end.

Bert and Minnie's baby girl felt unwelcome by the church they loved, but she was devoted to the God they worshiped and lived her life as He called her to do, loving deeply and serving others to the very end.

Heddy is survived by her four children; Vicki (Greg) Ackerman, Kimberly (William Ames) Cross, Todd (Cindy Bur) Cross and Thomas (Connie Durrstein) Cross. Six grandchildren, Kelly (John) Christiansen, Matthew (Asmita Kulkarni) Ackerman, Rick VanDyke, Jacob Ackerman, Michael and Alex Cross. Three great grandchildren, Anna and Thomas Christiansen and Arya Ackerman. Also surviving are two sisters, Martha Veldkamp Spencer and Lena Remynse, and sister-in-law, Karen Mattmiller, as well as several beloved nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Tom, her sister and brother-in-law Marge and Eugene (Duke) Wdowicki, her brother and sister-in-law Henry and Ruth Dieterman, her brothers-in-law Jacob Veldkamp, Robert Spencer & Robert Remynse and sister-in-law Nancy Hiemstra.

Services will be held at Lakeland Reformed Church, Sprinkle Road, Monday, Sept. 22 at 11:00 AM. You may visit with the family in the Family Life Center at Lakeland on Sunday, Sept. 21, from 2 to 4.

//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/view-life-story-video.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-02.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-03.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-04.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/015/102038/102038-05.jpg//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/download-memory-folder.jpg