As the most awarded country music singer ever, a devoted wife, and mother to six children, Loretta Lynn had an incredible journey. Born on April 14, 1932, in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, she was the second oldest of eight children. Her mother, a fan of American actress Loretta Young, named her after the actress. Loretta’s father, a coal miner, passed away at 52 due to black lung disease.
Growing up in the coal-mining hills of Kentucky, the Lynn family faced financial hardships. Loretta recalled, “The winters were cold, so my mommy glued newspapers and pages from old Sears Roebuck catalogs to the wall to help keep the cold out. We didn’t have money for wallpaper, but my mommy made that old house stay warm and beautiful.”
At the age of 16, Loretta married her first husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, who was 21 at the time. As a young stay-at-home wife, Loretta’s husband worked as a logger to support the family. They eventually moved from Kentucky to Custer, Washington, where Loretta began experiencing morning sickness without understanding the cause. Visiting her doctor, she was taken aback when he revealed she was pregnant.
“I just pulled the sheet over my head, like an ostrich. When he was done, Doc told me I could get dressed again. After that, he put his arm around my waist and he said, ’Honey, your trouble is, you’re pregnant,” Loretta explained in her book “Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
This revelation was a shock for the young and innocent Loretta, still a minor at the time. She insisted that she didn’t know what the word pregnant meant or where babies came from.
“I never knew where babies came from until it happened to me,” she once famously said.
Loretta Lynn’s first son, Jack, was born in December 1949, and his birth reflects the challenging circumstances of the Lynn family. Due to financial constraints, Loretta had to leave the hospital just hours after giving birth to Jack.
Following her second baby, Loretta experienced two miscarriages, with the second resulting in blood poisoning. Lacking the means to afford hospital care, she narrowly survived. Despite these challenges, Loretta continued to become pregnant. During her third pregnancy, doctors recommended a Cesarean section, but a legal obstacle arose—she needed her husband’s signature. Being a minor, she couldn’t sign her own consent form. After days at the hospital and unable to reach her husband, she delivered the baby naturally, and everything went well.
By the age of 20, Loretta had four children, leading a secluded life as a stay-at-home mom due to the family’s economic struggles. Despite her husband’s infidelity and alcoholism, Loretta remained devoted to him.
“I married Doo when I wasn’t but a child, and he was my life from that day on,” Lynn later wrote in her 2002 memoir, “Still Woman Enough.” “Doo was a good man and a hard worker. But he was an alcoholic, and it affected our marriage all the way through.”
The challenges and triumphs of her early marriage inspired Loretta’s songwriting. Despite enduring heartbreak, violence, and rejection, she channeled her emotions into her music, including her husband in her lyrics. Through her songs, she documented his affairs and even an incident where she confronted another woman interfering in their marriage.
According to Loretta herself: “If you can’t fight for your man, he’s not worth having.”
When asked why she didn’t leave Doo, Loretta once gave a clear answer: “I put up with it because of six kids.”
The country music queen remained in that marriage until Doolittle died in 1996, at the age of 69. His death was a difficult loss for her, and her children believed she would never recover from it.
“Three days after my husband died, I left Hurricane Mills and came to Nashville,” she said in an interview in 2000. “After being here awhile, I said to a friend of mine, ‘It seems like I’ve been here a couple of months already.’ And she said, ‘You’ve been here a year.’”
Fortunately, Loretta was able to pick up the pieces and focused on caring for and supporting her family, including her children and three grandchildren, while still making music.
Sadly, not all of Loretta’s children are still alive today.
Her oldest child, Betty Sue Lynn, born in 1948, was her mother’s right hand and worked closely with Loretta during her music career. Betty passed away in 2013 from complications related to emphysema at the age of 64.
Loretta’s first son, Jack Benny Lynn, born in 1949, didn’t pursue a career in the music industry like his mother and siblings. Instead, he dedicated his life to horses, becoming a successful horse trainer and blacksmith. Tragically, in 1984, Jack drowned while trying to cross a river with his horse on the family property. He was 54 at the time and left behind a wife and three children.
Loretta received the devastating news about Jack’s passing while being treated in the hospital for exhaustion. After a couple of days, her husband had to drive up to the hospital to deliver the tragic information.
Still Woman Enough, a mixture of classic songs and new material, was released in 2022, to positive reviews. It peaked at #9 on the US country albums chart.
“She took it much better than we expected,” said her manager of 12 years, David Skepner. “Loretta’s going to be all right.”
Jack’s sudden death took a heavy toll on Loretta – no parent should have to bury their baby. In 2021, on the anniversary of his passing, Loretta shared a heartbreaking tribute to her beloved son:
“He was a spitting image of his daddy. He was my blond-headed, blue-eyed baby. Just what I asked for. He was quiet and tender. I adored him with all my heart. He and Betty Sue got into everything when they were little and I was a new momma,” she wrote on Facebook.
Loretta’s third child, Clara “Cissie” Marie Lynn, was born in 1952 and worked as a producer for her mother.
Ernest Ray Lynn, born in 1954, followed in his mother’s footsteps and made a career in the entertainment industry as a performer.
In 1964, Loretta gave birth to twin girls Peggy and Patsy. They formed the duo “The Lynns” and had a hit in 1997 with the song “Woman to Woman.” The twins also ventured into acting, landing a role in the “Walker, Texas Ranger” series.
Despite facing health challenges, Lynn continued to record music and released her 50th studio album just before her 89th birthday in 2021.
Loretta Lynn passed away on October 4, 2022, due to natural causes. She is survived by four of her children – Clara, Ernest, and twins Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen.
It’s important to note that information from gossip magazines and similar sources should be taken with caution, as they may not always provide accurate and reliable details. Additionally, the statements attributed to individuals in such sources may not be verifiable or credible.
That being said, if the information is accurate, it suggests that Loretta Lynn may have had regrets related to her real estate decisions, specifically regarding the purchase of her ranch where her son Jack tragically drowned in 1984. According to the insider, Loretta expressed remorse for not heeding her mother’s advice about the property.
In her final moments, she reportedly confessed, “I wish I had heeded my mother’s advice,” indicating a sense of regret about the ranch and a belief that the house was under a curse. It’s important to treat such statements with sensitivity and respect for the late entertainer’s memory.
