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A ‘Sweet Dream’ Comes True For Patsy Cline Fan
By: F.C. Lowe The Winchester Star Standing in the very spot where country music legend, Patsy Cline, and Charlie Dick exchanged wedding vows on Sept. 15, 1957, a couple from Missouri tied the knot Wednesday afternoon in Winchester. This was a dream come true for the bride who has been an avid Patsy Cline fan since the age of 5.
The bride had always wanted to be married in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the home of the Grand Ole Opry, where Patsy was a regular. Since she did not feel this would become a reality, Beisner opted for getting married where Patsy did, and it all came together this week. After communicating with Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf, a board member of the area organization, Celebrating Patsy Cline, the details were worked out and two carloads of family members joined the couple for the trek to Winchester. This die-hard Patsy Cline fan said she has a section in her house dedicated to the country singer with a collection of photos.
Her mother, Dorothy Jean Priest of Catawissa, Mo., said her daughter had followed Patsy since she was a little girl and spent her money on music and other memorabilia. Beisner even admits bringing a few pictures with her on the trip and putting them in her hotel room. The groom has also formed an affection for the country singer, a native of Winchester, who died in a plane crash in 1963. After dating his new wife for 11 years, Stevens said he has heard a great deal about Patsy Cline. As for coming this far to get married, he said, “If it makes her happy, it makes me happy.” The couple received mixed reviews from friends in Missouri. “Some were enthused and others didn’t know what to think,” Stevens said. Previously, other couples have been married on the porch of the house by Huyett-Kempf, who is also a wedding official licensed in the state of Virginia. Most don’t get to go inside for the service, said Huyett-Kempf, but owner, Dora Graves, extended the invitation as a slow, steady rain began to fall. “They come here to see the house,” said Graves, who added she isn’t always up for company due to her health. “This is the first time for a wedding inside.” Huyett-Kempf said she has performed five other weddings at the house either on the porch or the front steps, and one couple even dressed like Patsy and Charlie. “She (Elena) is a girl after my own heart,” Huyett-Kempf said. “It is great that they came all the way from Missouri to be married here. She is a true fan.” Accompanying the couple, in addition to the bride’s mother, were her stepmother and father, Ralph and Joann Beisner of Kennett, Mo., and best man, William Peters of St. Louis. “It’s a long way to come to get rid of her,” said dad Ralph Beisner jokingly. “It has always been her dream,” Joann Beisner added. To the sound of Patsy’s voice on the CD player, Elena Beisner, dressed in an off-white pants suit with fringe on the jacket, was escorted by her father with mother and stepmother serving as attendants. Silk yellow roses made up the bouquets and corsages, prepared by a friend in Missouri. In a double-ring ceremony, the couple pledged to spend the rest of their lives together as Huyett-Kempf led the service with very little assistance from the book she carried. “This has been very, very special for Elena,” Joann Beisner said. Making the day even more special was a diamond ring used during the exchanging of the rings that took the bride totally by surprise. “This isn’t the ring we bought,” she said. After the ceremony, the bride found out her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Taliaferro of Clifton Forge, sent the ring as a surprise to be slipped into the ceremony at the appropriate time. As this was the first ceremony performed in this spot by Huyett-Kempf, she said she found it very moving. “I felt something, a warmth.” She admits that she is one who really gets into the ceremony. A celebration will be held when the couple returns to Missouri, but they planned to see some of the places in Winchester significant to Patsy before leaving. The teary-eyed wedding party slowly left the premise stating how they could not believe the bride’s dream had come true. “I don’t know if she would have gotten married if she couldn’t have done this,” Joann Beisner said. |
Originally Published In The Winchester Star On May 28, 2005
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