Virginia Hensley, better known as Patsy Cline, would have turned 76 yesterday, September 8th. Most folks here in the Shenandoah/Cumberland Valley know that Patsy was raised in Winchester, Virginia and sang throughout this area. I've been told that as a young girl, she stayed with the family who lived in the farmhouse across the road from our home here in Downsville after singing in a local church.
Patsy had the greatest voice of any female artist that I have ever heard. You don't just listen to a song sung by Patsy, you feel it. Patsy was killed in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 and is buried in Shenandoah Memorial Park right off Route 522, just outside Winchester on the way to Front Royal. The prominent bell tower in the cemetery is dedicated to her and was built, according to Wikipedia, with help from Loretta Lynn and Dottie West. (See some photos of a trip that Becky and I took to Patsy Cline spots around Winchester back in March.)
Many folks have seen Sweet Dreams, a bio-pic with which family members, including Cline's mother were not at all happy. Patsy's marriage to Charlie Dick was not nearly as tempestuous as the movie depicts it to have been.
Cline's most famous recording, the Willie Nelson composition, "Crazy," is the #1 Jukebox song of all time. If you are not a Patsy Cline fan, it is probably because you have never heard her sing. Here's your chance.
You should have put up pictures from the pilgrimage. That was a good day!
Posted by: Becky | September 09, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Because you asked for it, Becky, a photo album has been added!
Posted by: Austin | September 09, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Thanks Daddy!
Posted by: Becky | September 09, 2009 at 12:10 PM