Nancy Lou Cross

Un Suspiro. “A sigh.”

Nancy Lou Cross-Hall, piano instructor and dedicated teacher, drew her last breath on October 3, 2026. In addition to classical concertos and piano solos, she was known for her passion for Nature’s symphony— the sounds of all things furry, feathered and free. She shared 91 years full of songs, smiles and sighs. She lived an unforgettable life that touched so many in profound ways over decades.

On June 7, 1935 the new breath of Nancy Lou entered our world. The first and only born to Lucille and Paul Cross in Tacoma Park, Maryland started her journey, a life that would be dedicated to teaching and inspiring others with music. Those who knew her well would say she blew into our lives with the same gusto that later took her to the trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the cliffs atop Massanutten Mountain, and Spruce Knob of West Virginia, one of her favorite spots on earth. At a young age it was very clear Nancy was creative— sketching the flowers, birds and animals in her view, writing poetry and following her love of music: specifically piano. Her creativity crescendoed as she graduated high school at Tacoma Academy, then earned her bachelor’s degree at Columbia Union College in Tacoma Park, Maryland 1957. She then encored, finishing her master’s at Andrews University in Michigan in 1967.

The autumn of 1961, Nancy was hired as Piano Instructor at Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market, VA— perhaps her greatest legacy, having one of the longest stretches of faculty service in the school’s history, 52 years, through 2013. This was where most lives were touched by our dear friend. She tirelessly worked on an individual basis with students, which is perhaps why so many felt such strong connection with Nancy upon graduating. And thereafter, many of the friendships grew through the years.

Our ever intentional “Miss Cross” wisely asked close friend Michelle Cromwell Miller to assist in directing medical and home/business affairs upon the first signs of occasional cognitive memory struggles. And still she kept up with her near daily journaling started in 1952. As Nancy neared retirement, she surrendered her self-deemed moniker “The Hermitress” (of “Stonehaven” —her home atop the Massanutten Mountain gap). She became reacquainted with Chris Hall, a romance from her youth, and at near age 70, she married and shared her decades-long home and retreat. As Chris’s health and her memory started to fail, they continued adventuring on, until his passing in 2023. By this time, several close friends faithfully took care of assisting with medical visits to the valley, allowing for as much independence as possible, including Mary Farrow and Rusty Litten. Nancy spent her last months at Shenandoah Place in New Market, VA under the attentive staff, so that medical care could be most consistent.

Also significant to Nancy were several chosen family, “her kids” through the decades which she often shared fond visits and phone chats: Henry Wilson, Joe Taylor, Michelle Miller, Matthew Lyter, Tim Arena and Palma Rajki, as well as many others. To her kids, she was known for how she would weather adversity and frustration, throw her hands up like a Jim Henson muppet and sigh, “Ah, well… that’s LIFE!” Then continue on.

And so, as Nancy’s memories slipped away in her final years, we now become the holders of those incredible memories. We remember her mandatory guest book signing upon visiting; her detailed meticulous record keeping of dates and weather and wild animal sightings; her thousands of hand written letters through the years; her home that was never void of at least one cat; her moon-rising blackout parties when Beethoven Moonlight Sonata would sing on the stereo as the full moon, rising into The Gap, cast faint shadows in the living room; her hikes to the falls and the wild Pink Lady Slipper bloom counts every Spring; her full solo piano concert, including her beloved Franz Liszt “Un Sospiro” —which she PERFORMED on her 80th birthday; her mysterious blended “Green Drink” from select garden ingredients; her explosive singing at the Visitor Center parking lot on the bare winter evenings to check for echoes off the mountain (no doubt terrifying her beloved wild furry friends)… And we remember how she would well up with tears upon a profound virtuosic musical performance— or a Robert Frost poem— or when she witnessed a beloved student getting baptized in the quarry waters. She would occasionally discuss the love of Christ with conviction when invited, but most importantly, she lived it by example with everyone with whom she spent time. Nancy gave of her personal time, routinely, to ensure others needs were met. Especially her students. And it is why her Seventh-Day Adventist Church family and life-long friends will never forget Nancy Lou Cross.

From Robert Frost’s —The Road Not Taken—

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

With Un Sospiro, our dearest Nancy.

————-

Nancy’s legacy will be honored at a Memorial Life Celebration Concert by those who loved her at New Market Seventh-Day Adventist Church, on the SVA Alumni Weekend, April 17, 2027 in the afternoon.