‘Channeling Patsy’ Song to Debut
Proceeds Will Benefit Patsy Cline Projects

By: F.C. Lowe
The Winchester Star

It just came to her all at once.

After singing in Winchester at a Bluemont Concert last year at the Old Frederick County Courthouse, Danielle Westphal had a magical experience where a song “just came to me all at once within a couple of days of the show.”

Singing in the hometown of country legend Patsy Cline, Westphal of Northern Virginia felt that was the reason for her motivation for the song, “Channeling Patsy.”

The song’s official debut will take place at a concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 4 at Sweet Caroline’s in Winchester.

It will coincide with the annual Always Patsy fan club’s visit to Winchester during Labor Day weekend.

Patsy Cline is listed in the 2005 Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for having the record for the most weeks on the US Charts for an album by a female artist (of any genre): 722 weeks total, with 251 of them at #1, with Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits.

Cline Court Battle Wrapping Up

By: Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

A long-term court battle between Patsy Cline’s brother and sister came close to reaching its end Thursday in Winchester Circuit Court.

Only the final accounting and bill-paying remain in the settlement of the estate left when Cline’s mother, Hilda V. Hensley, died on Dec. 10, 1998.

Cline, the voice behind pop-country hits like “Sweet Dreams,” and “Crazy,” died in a 1963 Tennessee airplane crash at age 30. She was raised in Winchester and started her singing career here.

In a brief hearing, Judge John E. Wetsel Jr. dispatched with the few matters that remained after more than five years of legal wrangling between siblings Sylvia M. Wilt and Samuel L. Hensley.

Cline Siblings Choose Items From Estate

By: Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

It looks like a three-year estate battle between Patsy Cline’s brother and sister is finally winding down.

In May, Winchester Circuit Court Judge John E. Wetsel Jr. made it clear that Cline’s siblings — Sylvia M. Wilt and Samuel L. Hensley — needed to split the remains of their mother’s estate, which includes a slew of Cline items.

That division occurred June 8, but neither side had taken their selections home because they refused to sign a release from estate administrator Charles R. Alton.

Wetsel clarified the legal language in the release documents Thursday, and said if Wilt and Hensley do not sign by Aug. 2, the items they would have received would be sold.

Bell Tower Plan Changes
Patsy Cline’s Family Opposes Use of Singer’s Hits

By: Linda McCarty
The Winchester Star

He lives more than 500 miles away, but Charlie Dick’s phone and fax machine began ringing on Wednesday after people read a story in The Winchester Star.

The story announced plans to play songs by Patsy Cline — Dick’s late wife — from a bell tower honoring the country music legend.

Under the original plan, some of Cline’s hit songs were to be played through a sound system installed on the tower near her grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park on Front Royal Pike south of Winchester.

“Absolutely not,” Dick said during a telephone call to The Star from his home in the suburbs of Nashville. “The family is against singing of any sort from the tower, and Patsy will not be singing in that tower.”

Patsy Will Be Heard On High
Bell Tower to Play Cline’s Recordings

By: Linda McCarty
Edition Staff Writer

When more than 200 people braved the wet weather 17 years ago to attend the dedication ceremony of a bell tower for Patsy Cline, they expected it to live up to its purpose.

Since then, the only sound from the 40-foot-tall structure within sight of Patsy’s grave in Shenandoah Memorial Park on Front Royal Pike has been the occasional chirping of a bird stopping by for a rest.

The problem with the chimeless bell tower is about to be solved, said one of the country music legend’s fans, Winchester resident Jim Kniceley.

About three months ago, Jim organized a committee to raise money for a tower sound system.

“We’ve collected $1,000,” Jim said.

Hank Garland Living In Shadow of His Greatness
Legendary guitarist worked with Elvis, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison

The Associated Press
Updated: 3:25 p.m. ET July 08, 2004

ORANGE PARK, Fla. - The music is still in his fingers.

Place a guitar in the hands of legendary Hank “Sugarfoot” Garland and he’s quickly plucking strings, playing along with a black and white television image of himself from four decades ago on “Hometown U.S.A.”

Ask him about the mythic figures he’s worked with in Nashville, and he'll pause and smile — almost as if to give his brain time to rewind — before answering.

Elvis Presley? “He was real nice,” Garland said.

Four decades after an auto accident almost killed him and ended his brilliant music career, Garland is fighting ill health, trying to pry royalties out of former record companies and talking with Hollywood about a movie based on his life.

Time was, Garland was the talk of Nashville, known for musical riffs that could take a recording from humdrum to dazzling, as he did on Elvis hits like “Little Sister” and “Big Hunk of Love.” He also pioneered playing jazz in the country music capital.

“He is heralded as a quintessential Nashville studio guitarist,” noted musician Wolf Marshall said via email.

In addition to Elvis, Marshall said, Garland contributed to the music of the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and many others; was at the forefront of the rock ’n’ roll movement; enjoyed a prestigious career as a country virtuoso, pioneering the electric guitar at the Grand Ole Opry; and inspired jazz instrumentalists such as George Benson.

Patsy's Home

Winchester, Va., wasn't always crazy about Patsy Cline. But she's welcome now.

By: Hank Stuever
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 7, 2004; Page C02

"I don't know what's wrong with this town. It's like they don't want a person to make anything of herself." ~ Patsy Cline, according to biographer Margaret Jones, from "Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline" (1994)

Winchester, Va., and Patsy Cline are locked together forever, and what's past is past: Patsy forgives Winchester its shortcomings, and the town forgives her the less flattering details of her ambitious rise to fame. This is where Virginia Patterson Hensley Dick was born and reared. Before she became what she became (Patsy Cline, a jukebox icon, a tragic loss, a postage stamp), it was her wildest ambition to ride in an open convertible in the big parade at the city's annual Apple Blossom Festival. It took a long time for the town elders to pick her for that honor, finally, in 1957. Some people thought she was too brash. Some people didn't think much of a girl who wore pants.

Now they would do anything to have her back. Because if you're not really into Civil War history, and you don't golf, and you're not much in for kountry B&Bs or lazy Shenandoah drives, you won't find much reason to kill a weekend in Winchester.

Unless you have a thing for Patsy. People come a long way to see or experience firsthand any shred of the life she lived here.

#147 - $4,300 (Western Fringe Jacket)
#148 - $1,800 (Vegas Gown, Gloves & Purse)
#149 - $1,600 (3/4 Length Sleeve Dress)
#150 - $1,300 (Two-Piece Ensemble)
#151 - $800    (Tangerine Silk Chiffon)
#152 - $2,600 (Peach Cotton)
#153 - $1,000 (Cocktail Dress Lot #1)
#154 - $1,000 (Cocktail Dress Lot #2)
#155 - $2,200 (Poster Print Dress)
#156 - $2,000 (Accessories)
#157 - $850    (Costume Jewelry)

Stuart E. Brown, Jr., co-author of "Patsy Cline: Singing Girl From The Shenandoah Valley," died Sunday, June 6, 2004, in the Winchester Medical Center. Arrangements with the Enders and Shirley Funeral Home in Berryville are incomplete.

There is some good news with his passing. Prior to his death, Stuart donated pictures and biographical information from his book and a proposed supplement to the Handley Library Archives. I have been volunteering some time to catalog all of the info. It is not currently available to the public. The Handley Library Archives will do a press release when it is ready. I'm hoping that it will be available for our Labor Day Weekend celebration.

Judge Orders Estate Solution

By: Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

A Winchester Circuit Court judge recommended the brother and sister of legendary singer Patsy Cline use an egg timer in splitting up their mother’s estate.

The estate of Cline’s mother, Hilda V. Hensley, has been unsettled since her Dec. 10, 1998, death.

Many items, including stage costumes sewn by Hensley and worn by her famous daughter, were returned to Hensley’s home after Cline perished in a March 5, 1963, Tennessee plane crash.

Cline, born Virginia Hensley, spent her formative years in Winchester, and her mother lived most of her life in town. Cline reached the top of pop and country charts with hits like “Crazy,” and “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

Cline’s brother and sister, Samuel L. Hensley and Sylvia M. Wilt, have battled over their mother’s possessions in court, at least since 2001, and on Thursday, Winchester Circuit Court Judge John E. Wetsel Jr. said he wanted to see the wrangling end.