'Sweet Dreams' of Winchester
Memories of Patsy Cline linger in the Shenandoah Valley town the singer called home
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Special to the Sun
Originally published April 13, 2003
Her grave is a simple one -- a bronze plaque with a
name and an epitaph: "Death cannot kill what never dies." On a cold,
bright day in March 40 years after her death, it is clear that
something does live on, as a crowd of 50 gathers to heap the marker
with flowers.
"People come and leave things all the time -- bouquets, letters, scraps of paper with song lyrics, sometimes objects that symbolize the song titles: three cigarettes in an ashtray, say. A lot of times they leave money, thinking that there really ought to be a monument here. At least we got the bell tower," says J.D. Thompson, treasurer of the Always Patsy Cline Fan Club.
Thompson gestures toward a simple structure visible from Route 522, the road that runs by Shenandoah Memorial Park into Winchester.
A town of 24,000 people, Winchester has a lovely location in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Founded in 1752, it is said to be the oldest chartered city west of the Blue Ridge. Though it lies at the top of the Shenandoah Valley, about a 90-minute drive west of Baltimore, its grand public buildings and renovated downtown district have a refined Southern feel.
And in addition to its historic and architectural charms, Winchester offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the life of singer Patsy Cline. It's no Graceland or Dollywood -- but a quieter, closer experience of the settings and stories of a fascinating woman.
Patsy Cline, born Virginia Patterson Hensley (Cline was her first husband's name), worked her way up from the wrong side of the tracks here to spend three years at the beginning of the 1960s as a top star. On March 5, 1963, a plane crash left her fans, her family and her friends with only the memory of this vibrant woman, then 30 years old, and the recordings of her songs. But the vitality of those recordings has made her a legend.
"Crazy," penned by a young Willie Nelson, "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall To Pieces" and, recorded just weeks before her death, "Sweet Dreams" are the songs she is most remembered for. Her vocal style was perhaps best described by the singer herself: "trouble and honey."
Wrapping a world of female feeling in velvety tones and elegantly enunciated lyrics, she sounds more like the great blues and jazz singers than the country stars she lived and died among. But no one could tell Patsy Cline she was not a country singer. And no one could tell her that Winchester, Va., was not country.
"This town saw itself as a pinkie-out, swing band, dry martini kind of place," explains tour guide Judy Sue Kempf, a former Miss Apple Blossom and a one-time banker who made a career of her passion for Patsy after a series of gunpoint robberies made her reconsider her career choice.
"Patsy Cline was not their kind of person," Kempf says. "She was born in a farmhouse 15 miles outside of town. She dropped out of high school to support her mom and siblings by working at a chicken factory and a drug store. She cursed like a sailor, she walked around town in shorts and rollers, and on stage, she dressed and used her gorgeous figure to its full advantage. I think of her as the Madonna of the '50s -- outspoken, opinionated, bossy, sexy, a working mom, for that matter -- and many people around here couldn't handle it."
But that didn't stop Patsy. "She was a goodwill ambassador for this town. Every time she got up on stage, she introduced herself as 'Patsy Cline from Winchester, Va.' " says Jim Knicely, an old-timer in the country music business who grew up with Patsy and her second husband and widower, Charlie Dick. Knicely spoke at the recent graveside memorial service held to commemorate the anniversary of her death.
"This town has always been divided on the subject of Patsy," added his wife, Janet, after the ceremony. Janet Knicely remembers sitting in a folding chair in the live audience for Patsy's early broadcasts on the local radio station and watching her in talent shows at the Palace Theater. "There are those of us who always loved her, and those who thought she was brassy and low-class. When this generation dies out, she will soar."
Apples and history
If her popularity grows -- a recent study funded by Winchester estimates that a Patsy Cline museum could draw as many as 20,000 visitors a year -- visitors making their way to Patsy's hometown may meet up with those on another kind of pilgrimage.
The town's starring role in American military history has long made it a destination for history buffs. George Washington located his headquarters in Winchester during the French and Indian War, and both Stonewall Jackson and Union Gen. Philip Sheridan set up command posts here during the Civil War. The town changed hands 72 times during that conflict -- 13 times on a single day -- and five battles were fought in the city and surrounding Frederick County. Confederate and Union burial grounds, each with thousands of graves, lie across the street from one another.
The town's other major attraction is a more light-hearted one. Its Apple Blossom Festival, held annually the first weekend in May, celebrates the coming of spring to the area's abundant orchards. Established in 1924, "The Bloom" is a gala event that decorates the entire town in pink, white and green and these days draws a quarter of a million participants as well as celebrity guests.
The key events of the festival are a nearly four-hour Grand Feature parade with more than 50 high school bands and drill teams, a firefighters parade and a blues, gospel, bluegrass and jazz festival. Also on the schedule are fireworks and a laser show, the Clyde Beatty-Cole circus and a midway, golf tournament, footrace and a food and crafts fair, particularly noted for quilts.
Locals also recommend the Stag Luncheon and the Bloomer Luncheon, all-male and all-female events held the Friday before the big weekend.
Nick Maslaney of Aspinwall, Pa., has journeyed to Winchester for more than 30 years to participate in the Apple Blossom Festival.
"Over the years, we've made such good friends there that now we go as much to spend time with them as for the parades," he explains. "But the sports breakfast and the stag luncheon are always terrific, and they've added a senior citizens' luncheon that we love."
A photographer, Maslaney, 73, recently donated seven albums of pictures to the festival archives and reminisces fondly about photographing the attractive young women riding the tiered, pink and white queen's float, as well as those who stand in evening gowns on firetrucks in the Firefighters Parade.
"Those Southern boys have it made," he says, bemoaning the lack of a "Miss Fire Chief" in Pittsburgh-area hose and ladder processions.
Another difference between this festival and other small-town celebrations is the involvement of celebrities. Past visitors have included everyone from Tony Dorsett to Susan Lucci to Dan Aykroyd. The queen of the festival is always the offspring of a celebrity: this year, Martin Short's daughter, Katherine Short, will be crowned. She follows in the footsteps of Susan Ford, daughter of Gerald; Lucinda and Jennifer Robb, daughters of Virginia Senator Charles; Katherine Luckinbill, the daughter of Lucie Arnaz; and Candace Savalas, daughter of Telly.
Patsy's town
When Patsy Cline rode in the Apple Blossom Festival's Grand Feature parade in 1957, it is said that not everyone lining the parade route greeted her with cheers. By 2001, however, the festival was dedicated to her, and this year the town is ready for those who want to use part of their time to explore Patsy's Winchester.
The local tourism board has produced a map to aid in Patsy pilgrimages, so the faithful can visit WINC, the radio station where the 13-year-old turned up one day, pressed her nose against the studio glass and asked Jumpin' Joltin' Jim McCoy to let her sing. He did, and Patsy became a regular feature on his Saturday night shows.
Visitors can drive past Patsy's childhood home on Kent Street and peer at the house across the way where her mother lived until her death three years ago. They can stop for lunch at the Triangle Diner where she waitressed, and buy a box of tissues at another nearby employer, Gaunt's drug store, before they head out to her grave.
Though sodas are no longer served at Gaunt's, proprietor Harold "Doc" Madagan will let you poke your head into the old fountain in the rear where she worked and tell you his Patsy stories. His photo and memorabilia collection includes a poster promoting the Kansas City concert she was flying home from the night she died.
The story of Patsy Cline's death is part of her legend, its heart-rending details repeated in biographies, on Internet fan sites, and most famously, in the 1985 bio-pic, Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange and featuring Patsy's own recordings of her songs. (This followed another memorable film depiction of Patsy by Beverly d'Angelo in the 1980 Loretta Lynn story, Coal Miner's Daughter.) The tale begins with a tragedy, and follows it with an unbelievable number of cruel twists of fate.
The death in an auto accident of Jack Call, a well-loved Kansas City country disc jockey, inspired a star-studded roster to assemble in that town to perform a benefit concert to raise money for his widow and children.
Randy Hughes, a one-time country performer and Patsy's manager, flew in for the performance in a small plane carrying three stars: Patsy, Cowboy Copas (Hughes' father-in-law), and Billy Walker. While they were in Kansas City, Billy Walker's father had a heart attack, so he traded his seat with Nashville luminary Hawkshaw Hawkins, who gave him his open-ended ticket on a commercial airliner in return.
The weather was bad the day after the show, and it was clear that takeoff would be delayed. Dottie West, another singer on the bill, offered Hawkshaw and Patsy a ride back to their homes in Nashville in her car. She knew how eager Patsy was to get back to her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, who had a cold. Hawkshaw was in a hurry too: His wife was nine months pregnant and caring for a toddler.
The two decided, however, to stick with Hughes, who managed to take off at 1:30 that afternoon. But when he caught up with the storm front, he had to land in Little Rock and wait it out -- he was not an instrument-rated pilot and so could not fly through clouds.
They stopped again at 5:20 p.m. in Dyersburg, Tenn., just 50 miles from Nashville, to refuel and check in with those waiting at home. There, the owner of the airfield warned them that the storm was not far ahead of them. He tried to convince Hughes to borrow his station wagon and drive home -- he said he'd bring in the plane and trade vehicles the next day.
Hughes demurred, and they took off at 6:07 p.m. It should have been a short flight. Kathy Hughes, who was waiting to leave for the airfield to pick up her husband and father, Cowboy Copas, told Cline biographer Ellis Nassour that within 45 minutes she was sure something had gone wrong. She was right.
Hughes' Piper Comanche went down in a field near Camden, Tenn., about 7 p.m. No one survived.
But destiny was not done with the Grand Ole Opry yet. On the way to the memorial service in Nashville a few days later, yet another country singer, Jack Anglin, was killed in a car crash.
Local connections
One of the local Patsy fans attending the memorial service is Rhoda Kriz, proprietor with her husband, George, of the sprawling, beautifully appointed Long Hill Bed & Breakfast. Long Hill is located on 19 wooded acres on the north side of town, so unspoiled they have been designated as a backyard wildlife habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bird and butterfly gardens flank a swimming pool and hiking trails. Indoors, enormous rooms are filled with light and air, comfortable furniture and Rhoda's many amazing collections, including glassware, art and toys.
Beds hand-built by George in each of the three guest rooms have locally made mattresses that he believes are the best in the world, and each room has picture-window views of the flowers for which it is named: Azalea, Dogwood and Apple Blossom. There is also a whirlpool, rec room with a pool table, pinball machine and VCR. One can see why some guests come here and just hole up for a few days.
Like any Winchesterite worth her salt, Rhoda has a Patsy Cline connection. She takes out a small leather-bound book whose lined and yellowed pages are filled with the names of couples written in fountain-pen ink.
"My grandfather performed the wedding of Patsy Cline and Charlie Dick," she explains, pointing to the line dated 11/15/57, "for $10, see. He was close with her family." She shows a wedding picture that includes her grandfather among the wedding party. The new Mrs. Dick sports a curve-hugging ensemble and ostrich feather hat.
Rhoda's other claim to fame is her breakfast, hospitably served by George in the dining room. If you were expecting coffee and a roll, think again. This multicourse affair starts with a hot fruit compote with yogurt sauce, moves onto a sausage, cheese and egg dish, individual bacon-wrapped spinach loaves, Sally Lunn and Amish breads, and then for dessert, green apple ice cream.
Her local culinary renown has also led her to the chairmanship of the Apple Blossom Festival's apple pie competition, the winner of which rides in the Grand Feature Parade.
At the Patsy Cline memorial service, Rhoda chats with other locals who are working to make sure the singer is honored as she should be by her hometown. The Always Patsy Cline Fan Club, chaired by Patsy's daughter Julie, runs a Patsy weekend on Labor Day each year, which includes a concert of her music put on by country-Western star George Hamilton IV as well as another memorial service and a dinner.
The group led by tour guide Judy Sue Kempf, Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc., has put down money on the singer's childhood home on Kent Street and plans to open it as a museum displaying memorabilia and costumes sometime next year.
The appeal of Patsy Cline seems to be felt as strongly now as it was 40 years ago, as a quick tour of the press clips at www.patsified.com indicates:
"Patsy could stand in front of a mike, not move, just sing, and cause a riot," said a writer in the Chattanoogan in a review of "Always Patsy Cline," a tribute show mounted there last year.
As Denver's Rocky Mountain News put it, " That rich, womanly alto and the hiccup in her voice spoke of pain suffered and sorrows yet to feel. Maybe that's why her music is a staple for drunk girls in bars born years after her death."
And in a classic association between the singer and the country landscape where she was born, a Charlotte, N.C., journalist described Patsy's "wide-open voice, as big, fragrant and fertile as the vast apple orchards in her native Winchester."
Whether Winchester likes it or not, Patsy Cline will always be associated with this place. And it looks like they're starting to enjoy it after all.
When you go
Getting there:
From Baltimore, take the Beltway to I-70 west. In Frederick, take Route 340 south. Take this through Charles Town, W.Va., to Berryville, Va., where you take Route 7 west into Winchester.
Lodging
Long Hill Bed & Breakfast, 547 Apple Ridge Road Winchester,
VA 22603
866-265-8390
www.longhillbb.com
A lovely B&B with three guest rooms and great breakfast. Rates are $95 per night.
More Information
For information on Winchester attractions, including Patsy Cline
and Civil War sites, contact the Winchester-Frederick County
Convention & Visitors Bureau: 800-662-1360;
www.visitwinchesterva.com
For information and tickets for the 76th Apple Blossom Festival,
April 29-May 4, contact the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival:
800-230-2139; www.sabf.org
"People come and leave things all the time -- bouquets, letters, scraps of paper with song lyrics, sometimes objects that symbolize the song titles: three cigarettes in an ashtray, say. A lot of times they leave money, thinking that there really ought to be a monument here. At least we got the bell tower," says J.D. Thompson, treasurer of the Always Patsy Cline Fan Club.
Thompson gestures toward a simple structure visible from Route 522, the road that runs by Shenandoah Memorial Park into Winchester.
A town of 24,000 people, Winchester has a lovely location in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Founded in 1752, it is said to be the oldest chartered city west of the Blue Ridge. Though it lies at the top of the Shenandoah Valley, about a 90-minute drive west of Baltimore, its grand public buildings and renovated downtown district have a refined Southern feel.
And in addition to its historic and architectural charms, Winchester offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the life of singer Patsy Cline. It's no Graceland or Dollywood -- but a quieter, closer experience of the settings and stories of a fascinating woman.
Patsy Cline, born Virginia Patterson Hensley (Cline was her first husband's name), worked her way up from the wrong side of the tracks here to spend three years at the beginning of the 1960s as a top star. On March 5, 1963, a plane crash left her fans, her family and her friends with only the memory of this vibrant woman, then 30 years old, and the recordings of her songs. But the vitality of those recordings has made her a legend.
"Crazy," penned by a young Willie Nelson, "Walking After Midnight," "I Fall To Pieces" and, recorded just weeks before her death, "Sweet Dreams" are the songs she is most remembered for. Her vocal style was perhaps best described by the singer herself: "trouble and honey."
Wrapping a world of female feeling in velvety tones and elegantly enunciated lyrics, she sounds more like the great blues and jazz singers than the country stars she lived and died among. But no one could tell Patsy Cline she was not a country singer. And no one could tell her that Winchester, Va., was not country.
"This town saw itself as a pinkie-out, swing band, dry martini kind of place," explains tour guide Judy Sue Kempf, a former Miss Apple Blossom and a one-time banker who made a career of her passion for Patsy after a series of gunpoint robberies made her reconsider her career choice.
"Patsy Cline was not their kind of person," Kempf says. "She was born in a farmhouse 15 miles outside of town. She dropped out of high school to support her mom and siblings by working at a chicken factory and a drug store. She cursed like a sailor, she walked around town in shorts and rollers, and on stage, she dressed and used her gorgeous figure to its full advantage. I think of her as the Madonna of the '50s -- outspoken, opinionated, bossy, sexy, a working mom, for that matter -- and many people around here couldn't handle it."
But that didn't stop Patsy. "She was a goodwill ambassador for this town. Every time she got up on stage, she introduced herself as 'Patsy Cline from Winchester, Va.' " says Jim Knicely, an old-timer in the country music business who grew up with Patsy and her second husband and widower, Charlie Dick. Knicely spoke at the recent graveside memorial service held to commemorate the anniversary of her death.
"This town has always been divided on the subject of Patsy," added his wife, Janet, after the ceremony. Janet Knicely remembers sitting in a folding chair in the live audience for Patsy's early broadcasts on the local radio station and watching her in talent shows at the Palace Theater. "There are those of us who always loved her, and those who thought she was brassy and low-class. When this generation dies out, she will soar."
Apples and history
If her popularity grows -- a recent study funded by Winchester estimates that a Patsy Cline museum could draw as many as 20,000 visitors a year -- visitors making their way to Patsy's hometown may meet up with those on another kind of pilgrimage.
The town's starring role in American military history has long made it a destination for history buffs. George Washington located his headquarters in Winchester during the French and Indian War, and both Stonewall Jackson and Union Gen. Philip Sheridan set up command posts here during the Civil War. The town changed hands 72 times during that conflict -- 13 times on a single day -- and five battles were fought in the city and surrounding Frederick County. Confederate and Union burial grounds, each with thousands of graves, lie across the street from one another.
The town's other major attraction is a more light-hearted one. Its Apple Blossom Festival, held annually the first weekend in May, celebrates the coming of spring to the area's abundant orchards. Established in 1924, "The Bloom" is a gala event that decorates the entire town in pink, white and green and these days draws a quarter of a million participants as well as celebrity guests.
The key events of the festival are a nearly four-hour Grand Feature parade with more than 50 high school bands and drill teams, a firefighters parade and a blues, gospel, bluegrass and jazz festival. Also on the schedule are fireworks and a laser show, the Clyde Beatty-Cole circus and a midway, golf tournament, footrace and a food and crafts fair, particularly noted for quilts.
Locals also recommend the Stag Luncheon and the Bloomer Luncheon, all-male and all-female events held the Friday before the big weekend.
Nick Maslaney of Aspinwall, Pa., has journeyed to Winchester for more than 30 years to participate in the Apple Blossom Festival.
"Over the years, we've made such good friends there that now we go as much to spend time with them as for the parades," he explains. "But the sports breakfast and the stag luncheon are always terrific, and they've added a senior citizens' luncheon that we love."
A photographer, Maslaney, 73, recently donated seven albums of pictures to the festival archives and reminisces fondly about photographing the attractive young women riding the tiered, pink and white queen's float, as well as those who stand in evening gowns on firetrucks in the Firefighters Parade.
"Those Southern boys have it made," he says, bemoaning the lack of a "Miss Fire Chief" in Pittsburgh-area hose and ladder processions.
Another difference between this festival and other small-town celebrations is the involvement of celebrities. Past visitors have included everyone from Tony Dorsett to Susan Lucci to Dan Aykroyd. The queen of the festival is always the offspring of a celebrity: this year, Martin Short's daughter, Katherine Short, will be crowned. She follows in the footsteps of Susan Ford, daughter of Gerald; Lucinda and Jennifer Robb, daughters of Virginia Senator Charles; Katherine Luckinbill, the daughter of Lucie Arnaz; and Candace Savalas, daughter of Telly.
Patsy's town
When Patsy Cline rode in the Apple Blossom Festival's Grand Feature parade in 1957, it is said that not everyone lining the parade route greeted her with cheers. By 2001, however, the festival was dedicated to her, and this year the town is ready for those who want to use part of their time to explore Patsy's Winchester.
The local tourism board has produced a map to aid in Patsy pilgrimages, so the faithful can visit WINC, the radio station where the 13-year-old turned up one day, pressed her nose against the studio glass and asked Jumpin' Joltin' Jim McCoy to let her sing. He did, and Patsy became a regular feature on his Saturday night shows.
Visitors can drive past Patsy's childhood home on Kent Street and peer at the house across the way where her mother lived until her death three years ago. They can stop for lunch at the Triangle Diner where she waitressed, and buy a box of tissues at another nearby employer, Gaunt's drug store, before they head out to her grave.
Though sodas are no longer served at Gaunt's, proprietor Harold "Doc" Madagan will let you poke your head into the old fountain in the rear where she worked and tell you his Patsy stories. His photo and memorabilia collection includes a poster promoting the Kansas City concert she was flying home from the night she died.
The story of Patsy Cline's death is part of her legend, its heart-rending details repeated in biographies, on Internet fan sites, and most famously, in the 1985 bio-pic, Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange and featuring Patsy's own recordings of her songs. (This followed another memorable film depiction of Patsy by Beverly d'Angelo in the 1980 Loretta Lynn story, Coal Miner's Daughter.) The tale begins with a tragedy, and follows it with an unbelievable number of cruel twists of fate.
The death in an auto accident of Jack Call, a well-loved Kansas City country disc jockey, inspired a star-studded roster to assemble in that town to perform a benefit concert to raise money for his widow and children.
Randy Hughes, a one-time country performer and Patsy's manager, flew in for the performance in a small plane carrying three stars: Patsy, Cowboy Copas (Hughes' father-in-law), and Billy Walker. While they were in Kansas City, Billy Walker's father had a heart attack, so he traded his seat with Nashville luminary Hawkshaw Hawkins, who gave him his open-ended ticket on a commercial airliner in return.
The weather was bad the day after the show, and it was clear that takeoff would be delayed. Dottie West, another singer on the bill, offered Hawkshaw and Patsy a ride back to their homes in Nashville in her car. She knew how eager Patsy was to get back to her 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, who had a cold. Hawkshaw was in a hurry too: His wife was nine months pregnant and caring for a toddler.
The two decided, however, to stick with Hughes, who managed to take off at 1:30 that afternoon. But when he caught up with the storm front, he had to land in Little Rock and wait it out -- he was not an instrument-rated pilot and so could not fly through clouds.
They stopped again at 5:20 p.m. in Dyersburg, Tenn., just 50 miles from Nashville, to refuel and check in with those waiting at home. There, the owner of the airfield warned them that the storm was not far ahead of them. He tried to convince Hughes to borrow his station wagon and drive home -- he said he'd bring in the plane and trade vehicles the next day.
Hughes demurred, and they took off at 6:07 p.m. It should have been a short flight. Kathy Hughes, who was waiting to leave for the airfield to pick up her husband and father, Cowboy Copas, told Cline biographer Ellis Nassour that within 45 minutes she was sure something had gone wrong. She was right.
Hughes' Piper Comanche went down in a field near Camden, Tenn., about 7 p.m. No one survived.
But destiny was not done with the Grand Ole Opry yet. On the way to the memorial service in Nashville a few days later, yet another country singer, Jack Anglin, was killed in a car crash.
Local connections
One of the local Patsy fans attending the memorial service is Rhoda Kriz, proprietor with her husband, George, of the sprawling, beautifully appointed Long Hill Bed & Breakfast. Long Hill is located on 19 wooded acres on the north side of town, so unspoiled they have been designated as a backyard wildlife habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bird and butterfly gardens flank a swimming pool and hiking trails. Indoors, enormous rooms are filled with light and air, comfortable furniture and Rhoda's many amazing collections, including glassware, art and toys.
Beds hand-built by George in each of the three guest rooms have locally made mattresses that he believes are the best in the world, and each room has picture-window views of the flowers for which it is named: Azalea, Dogwood and Apple Blossom. There is also a whirlpool, rec room with a pool table, pinball machine and VCR. One can see why some guests come here and just hole up for a few days.
Like any Winchesterite worth her salt, Rhoda has a Patsy Cline connection. She takes out a small leather-bound book whose lined and yellowed pages are filled with the names of couples written in fountain-pen ink.
"My grandfather performed the wedding of Patsy Cline and Charlie Dick," she explains, pointing to the line dated 11/15/57, "for $10, see. He was close with her family." She shows a wedding picture that includes her grandfather among the wedding party. The new Mrs. Dick sports a curve-hugging ensemble and ostrich feather hat.
Rhoda's other claim to fame is her breakfast, hospitably served by George in the dining room. If you were expecting coffee and a roll, think again. This multicourse affair starts with a hot fruit compote with yogurt sauce, moves onto a sausage, cheese and egg dish, individual bacon-wrapped spinach loaves, Sally Lunn and Amish breads, and then for dessert, green apple ice cream.
Her local culinary renown has also led her to the chairmanship of the Apple Blossom Festival's apple pie competition, the winner of which rides in the Grand Feature Parade.
At the Patsy Cline memorial service, Rhoda chats with other locals who are working to make sure the singer is honored as she should be by her hometown. The Always Patsy Cline Fan Club, chaired by Patsy's daughter Julie, runs a Patsy weekend on Labor Day each year, which includes a concert of her music put on by country-Western star George Hamilton IV as well as another memorial service and a dinner.
The group led by tour guide Judy Sue Kempf, Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc., has put down money on the singer's childhood home on Kent Street and plans to open it as a museum displaying memorabilia and costumes sometime next year.
The appeal of Patsy Cline seems to be felt as strongly now as it was 40 years ago, as a quick tour of the press clips at www.patsified.com indicates:
"Patsy could stand in front of a mike, not move, just sing, and cause a riot," said a writer in the Chattanoogan in a review of "Always Patsy Cline," a tribute show mounted there last year.
As Denver's Rocky Mountain News put it, " That rich, womanly alto and the hiccup in her voice spoke of pain suffered and sorrows yet to feel. Maybe that's why her music is a staple for drunk girls in bars born years after her death."
And in a classic association between the singer and the country landscape where she was born, a Charlotte, N.C., journalist described Patsy's "wide-open voice, as big, fragrant and fertile as the vast apple orchards in her native Winchester."
Whether Winchester likes it or not, Patsy Cline will always be associated with this place. And it looks like they're starting to enjoy it after all.
When you go
Getting there:
From Baltimore, take the Beltway to I-70 west. In Frederick, take Route 340 south. Take this through Charles Town, W.Va., to Berryville, Va., where you take Route 7 west into Winchester.
Lodging
866-265-8390
www.longhillbb.com
A lovely B&B with three guest rooms and great breakfast. Rates are $95 per night.
More Information
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun