Family Plans Drive-By Event To Honor Aurora ‘Cross Man’ Friday

AURORA, IL — For nearly 25 years, Aurora’s Greg Zanis has crossed the country to honor the victims of violent crimes. Now, Zanis’ family is asking his supporters to honor him and boost his spirits as he battles terminal cancer.

Zanis was diagnosed in March with terminal bladder cancer and it has spread to his liver, lymph nodes and muscles, according to a report by the Aurora Beacon-News. His family is set to host a drive-by visitation event from 2-4 p.m. Friday afternoon at his home at the intersection of Church and Indian Trail roads, the report states.

Zanis’ daughter Susie told the Beacon-News that many people “wanted to stop by and see him but couldn’t" after his diagnosis, which came around the same time as Illinois residents were ordered to stay at home amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

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Susie Zanis is encouraging drive-by visitors to make signs, drop off cards or leave written messages that the family can read to him from their front porch, the report states.

Before retiring from his Crosses for Losses ministry in December, Zanis made more than 27,000 crosses to memorialize victims of violent crimes. He has delivered crosses for victims of mass shootings throughout the United States over the past quarter-century.

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Zanis, a retired carpenter, drove nearly 2,000 miles to Las Vegas in October 2017 to set up crosses for the 58 victims of a mass shooting at a country music festival. He also memorialized victims of the Columbine and Sandy Hook school shootings and the massacre at an Orlando nightclub.

Last February, he honored Russell Beyer, Clayton Parks, Vicente Juarez, Trevor Wehner and Josh Pinkard, the five people killed by a gunman at Henry Pratt Manufacturing in Aurora. Zanis made his first cross in 1996 after his father-in-law was found murdered, according to the ministry’s website.