Honky Tonk Angel (50 page)

As the night wore into morning, Charlie had spent very little time just being with Patsy. He wanted that very much. Finally, he asked everyone but Mrs. Hensley and the immediate family to leave. “I want to be alone with my girl,” he said.

A prayer service was set for Thursday afternoon at five at Phillips-Robinson. Patsy’s friend from Madison Hospital, the Rev. Jay Alford, officiated. Afterward, her remains were flown to Winchester on a Tennessee National Guard plane for services on Saturday afternoon. Interment, at the request of Mrs. Hensley, was to be in the new Shenandoah Memorial Park on Route 522 South outside Winchester.

Joint services for Randy and his father-in-law, Cowboy Copas, were scheduled for 10:00 A.M. Friday, with Hawkshaw Hawkins’s rites to take place at 3:30. A framed photograph of each was placed on top of the closed caskets. Even though the services were at different times, all four caskets were displayed together.

The attendance for the services was the largest in Nashville history. Streets near the funeral home had to be closed to traffic. Over one thousand mourners were jammed into each of the rites. Loudspeakers were placed outside to supplement the home’s permanent porch speakers. By Thursday morning, 615 flower sprays were received, prompting the funeral home to request florists to take any further orders directly to Forest Lawn Cemetery on Dickerson Road. At Charlie’s directive, Patsy’s flowers were to go to the local cemetery. Telegrams poured in from across the nation and throughout the world.

Teddy Wilburn said of the prayer service for Patsy, “You had to fight your way through the surging crowds in the street and inside the funeral home. We were milling around, talking in low, hushed tones waiting for the Reverend Alford to begin. Suddenly there was this commotion and word filtered in that Jack Anglin of the Johnny [Wright] & Jack duo had been killed. He’d been to the barber shop for a trim before heading to the service. On the way he was involved in an accident.

“I broke down, absolutely lost control. People were upset and horrified at the news. It was too much. Now we’d lost a fourth star, in addition to Sleepy McDaniel from Hank Snow’s band. I’d known Patsy, Cowboy, and Hawk well, but Doyle and
I went all the way back to the Louisiana Hayride with Jack. I was wiped out from Patsy’s death and had two funerals to go to, and now Jack. I fell apart. Two people finally had to help me outside. Someone sat me down in the front seat of a car so I could pull myself together. I don’t think I did for several days.”

Dottie remarked that Anglin’s death totally nonplussed everyone. “Bill was holding me up and I heard people gasping. I looked up and someone said, ‘Jack Anglin’s just been killed.’ The news raced through the crowd. What a shock. Another shock! Johnny was there with [his wife] Kitty [Wells] and when he heard the news about his partner and brother-in-law,
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he became hysterical. A black cloud had fallen over Music City.”

Over 600 cars were in the Copas and Hawkins processions.

Teddy Wilburn reflected on the impact of the deaths. “The country music industry had gone for almost ten years without any tragedy. Everyone was living on and on and on, and no one tremendously important in the business had died since Hank Williams. And his was a natural death, so to speak. It was amazing, especially in view of the way we traveled—no buses, everyone driving cars or limos and pulling equipment trailers. The law of averages caught up with us. But that didn’t make it any easier to accept.”

Ralph Emery compared that bleak week to something akin to the assassination of President John Kennedy later that year and the incredible feeling of loss it generated. “The impact was hitting everyone and some got the idea to commercialize on it. At Hawk’s funeral, one of the record executives told me he was asking me and disc jockeys at all country stations not to play any records that might attempt to morbidly commemorate what had happened.”

Each of the stars killed in that March 5th crash and in the March 7th accident was beloved by fans and industry folk alike. WSM and many of the Opry members debated whether or not to cancel the Saturday performance of the Opry. It was finally decided to go on with the show as the stars would have wanted. “Then we pondered how to handle the deaths on the broadcast,” Emery explained. “It was a sad, sad night. Things were quite subdued. People were talking, but I honestly don’t think they knew what they were saying. Something about there being a jinx on the Opry began circulating. Someone spoke of a hex on Patsy—you know, to have recovered from the car wreck and then to be involved in another horrible accident.”

Beginning at 7:30, the stage was filled with music, laughs, and pure Opry entertainment. At 8:34 Opry manager Ott Devine began a simple spoken tribute after the evening’s performers and all Opry members on hand gathered onstage: “We won’t be having no big to-do. They sure wouldn’t have liked that. Patsy, Hawk, Cope, Jack, and Randy would want us to recall the happier occasions. What do you say when you lose such friends? We can reflect on their contributions to us through entertainment, their acts of charity and love. We can think of the pleasure they brought to the lives of millions and take some comfort in knowing that they found fulfillment in the time allotted to them. They will never be forgotten.”

He asked for a moment of silent prayer. Throughout the great hall, 3,500 fans stood and bowed their heads. The Jordanaires at center stage then began a moving
rendition of “How Great Thou Art,” accompanied by a lone piano. Audible sobs broke the stillness.

In a much more jovial voice, Devine exclaimed, “Patsy, Cowboy, Hawkshaw, Jack, and Randy never walked on this stage without a smile, and they’d want us to keep smiling now. Let’s continue in the tradition of the Grand Ole Opry!”

Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys stepped to the footlights at 8:39 and struck a rousing fiddle tune of celebration, attempting to turn a sad occasion into one of joyous remembrance. The stars filed off with long faces and tears.

Minnie Pearl was next to go on, but she was upset and crying. Emery motioned to let her have another minute to compose herself. She swallowed hard, wiped her eyes, signaled she was ready, and Acuff brought her on to wild applause. She rushed out with her famed greeting, “Howwwwddddeeee! I’m so proud to be here.” And what, a few minutes earlier, had been an ocean of sad humanity dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs was instantly transformed into a sea of howling laughter. But their sadness was not forgotten. Waiting in the wings, Minnie had turned to Emery and said, “Oh, Lordy, we lost some good friends!” Across the nation that night, her sentiments were shared by countless country and pop music fans.

It would be polite to say that Patsy’s funeral on Sunday was a three-ring circus. Since Charlie had to attend the services for the other deceased, Patsy’s funeral was moved to Sunday afternoon to give him, Mrs. Hensley, and members of the family time to get safely to Winchester. The burial attracted thousands of fans and a mass of media personnel. They quickly became an unruly mob that city and Virginia state police could barely handle. Members of the family were disgusted with the conduct of a majority of the crowd, but Mrs. Hensley and Charlie were too distraught to know what transpired. The situation became so unmanageable that old friends of Patsy’s, such as the Crutchleys, the Deytons, Jumbo Rinker, even Bill Peer couldn’t get into the funeral home.

Sammy Moss, a Winchester disc jockey and bandleader who’d also known and befriended Patsy early on, noted on his annual Patsy Cline memorial broadcast in 1972: “This country DJ had never expected anything like this. I had been asked to be a pallbearer along with other friends of Patsy’s.... As I arrived ... about two forty-five it looked as though something big was about to happen. Streets were jammed with people. Traffic was almost at a standstill, and when I arrived at the Jones Funeral Home I could see what all the commotion was about It was the general public wanting to participate in the final rites of Patsy Cline. The Jones Funeral Home was a large establishment with two large rooms, and both rooms were filled to capacity with persons seated and standing. The doors were locked quite a while before services began because this place was filled beyond expectation.”

The memorial leaflet distributed by the family quoted Tennyson:

Patsy shows off her beloved fox stole. (Country Music Foundation)

Above left: Patsy at the Opry in May 1962. Randy Hughes, left, plays guitar. On bass is Lightnin’ Chance, also Hughes’s business partner.

 

(WSM Photo/Les Lovered)

Above right: Patsy, Johnny Cash, Don Gibson (who wrote “Sweet Dreams (of You)”, and George Jones bonded during Cash’s nationwide Shower of Stars tour. Old friends June Carter, Carl Perkins, and Leroy Van Dyke were also on the show.

Right: Patsy at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge berween Opry shows, February 16, 1963–sixteen days before her death–with Randy Hughes (back to camera) and recording artist Billy Walker.

 

(WSM Radio Archives)