Valley Pike

Feb. 2, 1950

Last summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth Grim Wingfield at the rollicking reunion put on by the 1953 graduates of the Winchester Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. Since then, she has mailed me a couple of interesting packets — fodder for Valley Pike — dealing with, among other things, her great-grandfather and her friendship with Patsy Cline.

As a girl growing up in Stephens City, Ruth says she did not truly appreciate the history of her homeplace. But, after moving around the country — she has lived in Louisiana for the past 37 years — her memories of the sweet rhythms of Valley life have grown more dear.

Ruth’s great-grandpa, a former Union cavalryman named Samuel Bates who made Stephens City his post-war home, is worth a column unto himself. But for the purposes of this Valley Pike, I will concentrate on Ruth’s acquaintance with Patsy and one of those magical nights at Handley High School when the latter lit up the local stage with her talent.

Ruth, who graduated from Stephens City High School in 1950, got to know Patsy when they both worked at the Snack Bar on Loudoun Street in the late ’40s.

As Ruth recalls, the eatery was owned by “Bud” Carl Lewis, who also ran the Red Wing Restaurant on West Boscawen Street. The Snack Bar was located next to the Winchester News, operated by Clay Cochran.

In her letter, Ruth did not say much about the extent of her friendship with Patsy — again, an interview possibility for a future Valley Pike — but she must have been an early fan of the budding country-music legend. She enclosed Xeroxed copies of the program and a photo taken at the Amateur Show in which Patsy took the Handley stage on Feb. 2, 1950.

Both items would be of special interest to Cline aficionados. The program cover was autographed by many of the talent show participants. In the center of the page, standing regally alone in unmistakable script, are the words “Love, Virginia Hensley.”

Our Patsy — before she was Patsy.

The photo I have seen many times, as it hangs in our local Patsy shrine, Gaunt’s Drug Store. Ruth, however, identified many of the other Amateur Show contestants — folks such as Teresa “Blondie” Taylor, another friend of Patsy’s who did a song-and-dance routine that night; Carole Cain and Page Michael, a dance duo; Betty Von Brill, a Stephens City classmate of Ruth’s who performed a monologue; the Four Eagles Quartet, featuring Maynard and Fred McKee; and, last but not least, the program’s emcee, Jack Fretwell.

Ironically, perhaps, Patsy did not steal the show that winter evening. That honor went to Bennie Brown, a diminutive tap dancer from Winchester.

From the looks of the photo, Bennie could not have been more than 8 or 9 years old. But dressed in tails and a huge top hat, he must have been a genuine crowd-pleaser. By virtue of his first-place performance, he won an all-expenses-paid trip to New York to audition before Ted Mack, host of the “Old Gold Original Amateur Hour.”

What a night that must have been at Handley. When I next correspond with Ruth, I’ll have to ask her to tell me more about it.

And more about Samuel Bates as well.

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Adrian O’ Connor is the editorial page editor at The Winchester Star.

Originally Published In The Winchester Star On November 12, 2003