PATSY CLINE

    Patsy Cline was born as Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. Her mother was Hilda Hensley and her father was Samuel Lawrence Hensley. Hilda Hensley died on Dec 10, 1998. A great loss for the family, and for all devoted Patsy Cline fans. Patsy's father died in 1956. Up until around the time when Patsy turned 20, she was mostly called "Ginny".

    In the early years Patsy was very interested in dancing, and wanted to become a dancer. Her idol was Shirley Temple. Patsy was entered in a children's dance competition by her mother, and surprisingly she won first prize. But after that, Patsy suddenly lost interest in dancing, and was completely into music instead. First it was playing the piano, which she did by ear, and later it was singing. Patsy never did learn notes, and she hardly knew what key she sang in... But she sounded okay anyway...

    She began her singing career in the Baptist church choir, and at the age of thirteen she became seriously ill. "I had a serious bout with rheumatic fever when I was thirteen", Patsy said in 1957. "I developed a terrible throat infection and my heart even stopped beating. The doctor put me in an oxygen tent. You might say it was my return to the living after several days that launched me as a singer. The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith's".

    In 1953 Patsy married Gerald Cline, and became Patsy Cline. The name "Patsy" (as opposed to "Virginia" or "Ginny") was suggested to her by Bill Peer, who helped her in the beginning of her career, and with whom she was said to have had an affair. Patsy and Gerald didn't have any kids. In 1956, when she was singing at a local dance, she met the love of her life, Charlie Dick, for the first time, and some time later she divorced Gerald and eventually married Charlie in 1957, and they had the children Julia Simadore "Julie" in 1958 and Allen Randolph, "Randy" in 1961. Just after she had married Charlie, Arthur Godfrey asked her, "Are you happy?", and Patsy replied, "Just as happy as if I had good sense"...

    On June 14, 1961, Patsy and her brother Sam were involved in a head-on car collision in front of Madison High School in Nashville. The impact sent Patsy through the windshield and nearly killed her, but due to some miracle she survived this crisis... That was the second time she was near death... When Patsy was at the hospital, a new female singer by the name of Loretta Lynn, was singing Patsy's big hit "I fall to pieces" in a broadcast from the Ernest Tubb record shop, as a tribute to Patsy. Patsy liked it, and sent her husband Charlie down to the record shop to fetch Loretta and get her to the hospital, because Patsy wanted to meet this girl. And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

    Patsy's last concert was held in Kansas City at a benefit for the family of a local disc jockey, on March 3, 1963. The next day Randy Hughes, Patsy, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins, were killed near Dyersburg, Tennessee, 90 miles from home in a plane crash.