Obituary of Gabriella Nora Cross

Gabriella Nora Cross, 70, beloved wife, mother, artist, pianist, gourmet cook, and dear friend to many, died of cancer peacefully at home on June 4, 2014. She was born in Cegléd, Hungary on June 16, 1943, while World War II was raging on the European continent. Her parents were Carol and Erno Horompo; her father was an artesian water well engineer with projects throughout Hungary. Nora, as she preferred to be called, began piano lessons at the age of 4. She emigrated with her parents to Toronto, Canada during the unsuccessful Hungarian revolution in November 1956, to escape the oppression of the Soviet-style communist government. In Canada she attended the Toronto public schools and received a certificate in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. Always close to the art form of music, she was employed in the Music Library of the University of Toronto, where she met her future husband, Lowell Merlin Cross, a US citizen pursuing graduate studies in music at the University. They were married on November 25, 1967, in the Chapel of Deer Park United Church in Toronto. In 1968, upon his completion of graduate studies, Lowell received an appointment at Mills College, Oakland, California to teach electronic music and direct the activites of the Tape Music Center. In 1970, Nora and Lowell traveled to Japan, where he installed his invention, the "laser light show," at Expo '70, Osaka. From there they went to Ahmedabad, India, where Lowell was a teacher and consultant in electronic music at the National Institute of Design. In Ahmedabad, Nora studied Hindi with a professor at the Institute. Not long after their return to Oakland in 1970, Lowell received an invitation to join the music faculty at the University of Iowa and to supervise the development of more laser projectors, by this time his third and fourth systems. Nora and Lowell continued to live in Iowa City to the present day. Their two children, Karen Adrienne (b. 1970, now Mrs. Joseph Byron Durham II) and Gregory James (b. 1975) grew up in Iowa City. Nora, Karen, and Gregory all received degrees from the University of Iowa. Nora's first UI degree was a BA in Italian with a minor in elementary education (1993); her second was a BFA in studio art, specifically printmaking (2002, with honors in art). She taught piano, worked in her printmaking studio at home, belonged to the National League of American Pen Women, taught in the Iowa City Community School District, and was a sought-after hostess and excellent cook, treating her family members, friends, and visitors to her culinary accomplishments. Nora's grandson, Joseph Byron Durham III, was born in Chicago on November 29, 2012 to Karen and J. Byron Durham II. Her parents and an older brother, Ernie, preceded her in death. There will be no visitation or funeral, but there will be a local celebration of her life at a later date. The family is planning a private memorial celebration of her life in the autumn, on the shore of one of Nora's favorite Canadian lakes in Ontario. She was a citizen of Hungary, Canada, and the United States. Memorial contributions can be made in her name to the School of Art & Art History through the University of Iowa Foundation, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244-4550. Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com.