Changes

==Background==

==Background==

Cross was born in Huntington in Tuscaloosa County, [[Alabama]], to William Earl Cross (1889-1985) and the former Bertha Frances Harris (1893-1984), who were residing in Tulsa, [[Oklahoma]], at the times of their deaths.<ref name=ssdi%2F><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.featherstone-society.com/Indexes/usa/featherstone%20findings/volume%2018/pages-29-34.htm|title=12. William Earl Cross|publisher=featherstone-society.com|accessdate=July 6, 2011}}</ref>

Cross was born in Huntington in Tuscaloosa County, [[Alabama]], to William Earl Cross (1889-1985) and the former Bertha Frances Harris (1893-1984), who were residing in Tulsa, [[Oklahoma]], at the times of their deaths.<ref name=ssdi/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.featherstone-society.com/Indexes/usa/featherstone%20findings/volume%2018/pages-29-34.htm|title=12. William Earl Cross|publisher=featherstone-society.com|accessdate=July 6, 2011}}</ref>

During his lengthy career, Cross worked at the ABA headquarters in Texarkana, [[Texas]], where his colleagues included [[A. T. Powers]], the ABA president from 1957 to 1959. This association led to Cross's publication of  ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him''.<ref>Irvie Keil Cross, ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him'' (Little Rock, [[Arkansas]]: Bogard Press, 1989)</ref> From the middle 1950s to the 1970s, Cross was the founder and president of Eastern Baptist Seminary in Kentucky, established through the auspices of the Langdon Street Baptist Church in Somerset.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Austin Toliver Powers and Leander Louis Clover: Planting the American Baptist Association in Northwest Louisiana during the Middle Twentieth Century," ''[[North Louisiana History]], Vol. 41, Nos. 3-4 (Summer-Fall 2010), p. 138</ref> [[L. L. Clover]], another ABA figure, received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Eastern Baptist in the spring of 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~clover/vr/la.html|title=Clover Family Research Compendium: Louisiana records|publisher=freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=July6, 2011}}</ref><ref>Cross, ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him'', p. 22</ref>Cross was included in the publication ''Who's Who in Kentucky, 1955,'' as a resident of Bullitt County in suburban Louisville, prior to his move to Somerset in southern Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.org/ky/bullitt/misc/whoabcd.txt|title=''Who's Who, Bullitt County, 1955''|publisher=usgwarchives.org|accessdate=July 9, 2011}}</ref>

During his lengthy career, Cross worked at the ABA headquarters in Texarkana, [[Texas]], where his colleagues included [[A. T. Powers]], the ABA president from 1957 to 1959. This association led to Cross's publication of  ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him''.<ref>Irvie Keil Cross, ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him'' (Little Rock, [[Arkansas]]: Bogard Press, 1989)</ref> From the middle 1950s to the 1970s, Cross was the founder and president of Eastern Baptist Seminary in Kentucky, established through the auspices of the Langdon Street Baptist Church in Somerset.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Austin Toliver Powers and Leander Louis Clover: Planting the American Baptist Association in Northwest Louisiana during the Middle Twentieth Century," ''[[North Louisiana History]], Vol. 41, Nos. 3-4 (Summer-Fall 2010), p. 138</ref> [[L. L. Clover]], another ABA figure, received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Eastern Baptist in the spring of 1957.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~clover/vr/la.html|title=Clover Family Research Compendium: Louisiana records|publisher=freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=July6, 2011}}</ref><ref>Cross, ''Austin T. Powers As I Knew Him'', p. 22</ref>Cross was included in the publication ''Who's Who in Kentucky, 1955,'' as a resident of Bullitt County in suburban Louisville, prior to his move to Somerset in southern Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.org/ky/bullitt/misc/whoabcd.txt|title=''Who's Who, Bullitt County, 1955''|publisher=usgwarchives.org|accessdate=July 9, 2011}}</ref>