Country Star Tells How Singer Inspired Career By: Charlie Jackson The Winchester Star Singer George Hamilton IV talks to those gathered for the memorial service for Patsy Cline at her gravesite at Shenandoah Memorial Park. (Photo by Rick Foster) Country music star George Hamilton IV knelt down and placed a Baby Ruth candy bar with a red rose stuck inside the wrapper at the grave of Patsy Cline in Winchester Sunday afternoon. Hamilton was one of nearly 30 people — some family, others friends, and all fans — who came to Shenandoah Memorial Park to pay tribute to the late country music icon. Hamilton talked about the inspiration Cline was to him early in his career and even now. After the brief ceremony, Hamilton shared stories of his encounters along the country music road with his friend. It was early in his career in the mid-1950s and he had just released his first album titled “A Rose and a Baby Ruth.” He performed the song on the Town and Country Jamboree, which eventually turned into the Jimmy Dean Show, with Patsy Cline also performing that evening. The first time the two met, Hamilton spoke of an “instant connection.” Cline was performing “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” She told Hamilton it was her favorite gospel song. “I told her it was mine too,” he said, shortly after performing the song next to Cline’s tombstone. Hamilton spoke glowingly of the late country music legend. He told stories of Cline’s generosity with young and up and coming artists. Country music star George Hamilton IV and a friend of Patsy Cline placed “A Rose and a Baby Ruth” on her gravesite prior to a memorial service for her. Hamilton wrote and recorded a song by that title and performed it on the Jimmy Dean Show on the same night Cline was there. (Photo by Rick Foster) “She called them her sisters,” he said. “She didn’t see them as her competition.” Hamilton’s words moved many of the mourners who make the trip to Winchester each Labor Day to celebrate the life of Cline. One such person was Kim Hinze. Hinze, from Schuylkill, Pa., is distantly related to Cline. Hinze’s grandmother, Eula Miller, was a cousin of Hilda Hensley — Cline’s mother. In the early summer of 2003, Hinze and her husband rewrote one of Cline’s biggest hits, “Crazy,” into a gospel song. Months later the song appeared on the Christian country charts. “When I was told the song was on the Christian charts, I drove all the way up to her grave and thanked her,” Hinze said. While this was the first time Hinze came to Winchester for the annual Labor Day festivities, others like Denny Mellott have been coming for years. Seventeen to be exact. “I’ve been a Patsy Cline fan since the 1960s,” Mellott said. “Nobody to this day in country music can match her singing.” Jim Spears came to Winchester from Raleigh, N.C. He’s been making the jaunt every year since 1984. “She has a voice that is hard to duplicate,” he said. “Just hearing that voice ... that sends chills through me.” Spears, Mellott, and a host of others are by now well acquainted. The fans and family of Cline catch-up with one another, share stories of Cline and their own. For many, it’s a family reunion of sorts. Darlene Caudle, who performs Patsy Cline music, has an appropriate vanity license plate as she prepares to leave the memorial service for the singer at her gravesite in Shenandoah Memorial Park. (Photo by Rick Foster) The group ended the tribute with a prayer led by Hamilton. With their heads bowed and a few sets of eyes moist with emotion, Hamilton said “We thank you for the life of Patsy and the inspiration that she is, not was, is.” With that, Hamilton embraced Charlie Dick, Cline’s husband, and after the group reminisced a bit, they departed. But they shall no doubt see one another again.

Originally Published In The Winchester Star On September 6, 2005







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