Loretta Lynn had a remarkable career as the most honored country music artist in history, a devoted wife, and a mother of six.
She grew up in the coal-mining hills of Kentucky in abject poverty; tales have it that her mother used Sears catalog pages as wallpaper.
The coal miner’s daughter married Oliver “Mooney” Lynn when she was just 16 years old, thus it took her some time to understand where babies came from.
Loretta Lynn had a remarkable career as the most honored country music artist in history, a devoted wife, and a mother of six.
She grew up in the coal-mining hills of Kentucky in abject poverty; tales have it that her mother used Sears catalog pages as wallpaper.The coal miner’s daughter married Oliver “Mooney” Lynn when she was just 16 years old, thus it took her some time to understand where babies came from.
“My mother taped old Sears Roebuck catalog pages and newspaper articles to the walls during the frigid winters to keep the cold out. “My mommy kept that old house warm and lovely even though we didn’t have money for wallpaper,” Loretta added.
She married Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, her first husband, when she was just 16 and he was 21. Young Loretta was a stay-at-home mother who earned her family’s living as a logger.
The family ultimately decided to move from Kentucky to the logging community of Custer, Washington. There Loretta began waking up in the mornings feeling sick, for no apparent reason. She decided to visit her doctor, who then gave her the go-ahead to take off her clothes.
“Like an ostrich, I simply pulled the sheet over my head. Doc said I could put on new clothes after he was finished. “Honey, your trouble is, you’re pregnant,” he remarked after placing his arm around my waist, according to Loretta Lynn, who wrote the book “Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
The revelation shook the young, naïve Loretta, who was only a minor at the time. She admitted that she had no concept what it meant to be pregnant or how kids were made.
She once quipped, famously, “I never knew where babies came from until it happened to me.”
Her firstborn, Jack, was born in December 1949. The story of his birth reveals a lot about Loretta’s home life and that of her relatives. Because she couldn’t afford to spend the night at the hospital, Loretta left for home just a few hours after giving birth to Jack.
Two pregnancies were lost by Loretta after she had her second child. She unfortunately had blood poisoning after the second miscarriage, and once more she was unable to afford medical care. Despite the fact that it wasn’t by much, she did manage to survive.
Loretta kept getting pregnant in spite of everything. Medical doctors urged Loretta, who was expecting her third child, to have a cesarean section. She faced a problem because she needed her husband’s consent to move on.
She was still a minor, so surprisingly, she couldn’t sign her own consent form. This became a big deal because her husband Doolittle was out in the woods working. Loretta ultimately gave birth to her child naturally after spending days in the hospital, and everything went without a hitch.
“When Doo called from a logging camp, they started making fun of him. It was first identified as a boy, then a girl, and finally a boy once more. However, it was a boy, and we gave him the name Ernest Ray, said Loretta.
Before she turned 20, Loretta had four children. She was a stay-at-home mother, and with the family’s financial situation as it was, she rarely left the house.But her husband liked to go out with his mates and drink beer.
Sadly, he met other women while defying Loretta’s instructions. Loretta stayed entirely devoted to her husband despite his serial infidelity, which was something that not all women in her situation would have done.
In her 2002 memoir Still Woman Enough, Lynn stated, “I married Doo when I wasn’t even a child, and he was my life from that day on.
“However, as significant as my youth and upbringing were, there was another factor that kept me with Doo. He never let me forget that he thought I was unique and more special than anybody else in the world. It would be challenging to disprove that notion. Doo was my safety net and my security.
Doo was a decent person and a diligent worker. He was an alcoholic, though, and it had an impact on our marriage throughout.
At least some good came out of Loretta’s turbulent marriage’s early years of joy and anguish; they eventually served as the basis for her music.
Loretta never gave up despite repeatedly suffering grief, violence, and rejection. She even claimed that she had never written a song without including a reference to her husband in the lyrics. Through her music, she kept tabs on his relationships, even going so far as to criticize a different woman for interfering with their marriage.
In Loretta’s own words, “If you can’t fight for your man, he’s not worth having.” Loretta once responded directly to the question of why she didn’t leave Doo: “I put up with it because of six kids.”
The country music diva remained married to Doolittle until his death at the age of 69 in 1996. Her kids thought she would never get over the loss since she found it so difficult to deal with.
She said, “I left Hurricane Mills and came to Nashville three days after my husband passed away.
I told a friend after being here for a time, ‘It seems like I’ve been here for a couple months already.’ You’ve been here a year, she said.
Fortunately, Loretta managed to put things back together and focused on caring for and supporting her family, including her children and three grandchildren, while carrying on with her musical career. Sadly, not all of Loretta’s children are still alive.
Betty Sue Lynn, her oldest child, was born in 1948. She supported Loretta during her musical career and served as her mother’s right hand. Actually, Betty composed a few songs for her mother, such as “Wine, Women, and Song.”Betty sadly passed away in 2013 from emphysema-related complications. She was 64 years old.
In 1949, Loretta gave birth to her first child, Jack Benny Lynn. However, unlike his mother and siblings, Jack chose not to pursue a career in the music business.
Instead, he focused on developing his skills as a blacksmith and training horses. But it was inevitable that his life would end tragically. One day in 1984, Jack lost his life while attempting to ride his horse across a river on the family’s farm. He was 54 years old, married, and had three kids at the time.
Instead, he focused on developing his skills as a blacksmith and training horses. But it was inevitable that his life would end tragically. One day in 1984, Jack lost his life while attempting to ride his horse across a river on the family’s farm. He was 54 years old, married, and had three kids at the time.
David Skepner, her manager of 12 years, commented, “She handled it much better than we anticipated.” Loretta will be fine, I promise.
It goes without saying that Loretta was devastated by Jack’s sudden death because no parent should have to mourn their child. In 2021, on the anniversary of his passing, Loretta gave a tearful homage to her dear son:
“He was an exact replica of his father. He was my baby, with blond hair and blue eyes. Exactly what I wanted. He was soft and reserved. I had nothing except love for him. When they were young and I was a new mother, he and Betty Sue got into everything,” she posted on Facebook.
Clara “Cissie” Marie Lynn, Loretta’s third child, was born in 1952. She was a producer for her mother as well.
While growing up, Ernest Ray Lynn, who was born in 1954, continued his mother’s career path by pursuing a career as a performer in the entertainment sector. In 1964, Loretta gave birth to twins named Peggy and Patsy.
They worked together on music, and in 1997 their band, “The Lynns,” found fame with the song “Woman to Woman.”
Peggy and Patsy also attempted acting, and they even succeeded in getting a part in the “Walker Texas Ranger” series, where they shared the lead role with Chuck Norris while appearing as themselves.
The family of Loretta Lynn has grown as a result of the addition of grandchildren. Loretta was constantly reminded of both what she had lost and what she still had during the holidays.
“I can’t tell you how much Doo, Jack, and Betty would have benefited from being here today. My grief over losing those three has never subsided. But I’m very appreciative of the four I still have,” she stated the previous year.
Undoubtedly, a lot of country music fans still feel a great void in their hearts as a result of Loretta Lynn’s passing on October 4, 2022. Loretta, rest in peace!
