Harry Maybury Cross: In Memoriam

Just because you were from Ritzville, where Harry Cross was born on August 23, 1913, it would not mean you were "ritzy." The town is a plain one, named, for a plain man, Philip Ritz, in the plains country of Eastern Washington, the county seat of Adams County. There Harry Cross grew up, graduating from Ritzville High School, valedictorian of his class. His parents were substantial citizens of the town, his father the owner of a title insurance company and a sometime member of the Washington State Legislature. All three of the Cross brothers must have been influenced by their father's occupation; they probably helped in the business in their spare time.

Brother Edward was to become a lawyer in Ritzville, and brother Robert was a future insurance agency owner in Eugene, Oregon. Harry, of course, had an abiding interest in titles and title insurance, working part-time during law school in a Seattle title insurance company and later, as a legal scholar, having a special interest in those areas of law.