Celebrating Patsy Cline Board Mum On Future of President By: Laura B. Withers The Winchester Star The Board of Directors for Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc., a nonprofit organization honoring the late country music legend with Winchester roots, may be trying to get rid of its president, but board members are staying tight-lipped about the matter. The CPC Board of Directors met privately Wednesday evening in Winchester’s Kurtz Building to discuss the removal of Board President Philip L. Martin from his position at the organization’s helm. The board did not allow media reporters to attend the meeting. Because it is private organization that does not include members of a public body, CPC is not required to hold public meetings under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Martin and other board members declined to answer questions after the meeting. In a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, board member Karen Helm said the meeting was private, and the Board of Directors is planning to prepare a press release as soon as a decision is made. “When we are prepared to release a statement as a group, we will do that,” Helm said. “We just don’t have any comment at this point.” Martin, who has helped the organization create plans to establish a permanent Patsy Cline Museum in Winchester and restore the legendary country singer’s childhood home at 608 S. Kent St., announced the board’s apparent intentions to remove him from his office in a letter to CPC supporters and local media Wednesday. According to Martin’s letter, he learned of the “sad news” in a letter from the Board of Directors sent to him Nov. 21, which said “our visions for the museum and the path towards our ultimate goal do not seem to be synchronized closely enough for the majority of the Board of Directors to want to continue under your leadership.” “Needless to say, the past eight days have been emotionally wrenching and so sad for me and my wife Donna,” wrote Martin, a Nashville native. Martin became president of CPC in February, after serving as a board member since the summer of 2004. After being named board president, Martin unveiled a list of goals, including securing a location for an official Patsy Cline Museum in Winchester and obtaining Cline’s old home — now owned by the Adams family — on South Kent Street. The organization established a temporary museum with Cline displays, costumes, and artifacts on the Loudoun Street Mall next to the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum this fall. In mid-November, the Winchester home where Cline lived with her mother and two siblings was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In Wednesday’s letter, Martin wrote he recently learned the Adams family wishes to donate the home to CPC — a revelation he called a “proud moment” for the organization. Martin and members of the Adams family had previously discussed selling the property for $66,784, which was to be acquired through fund-raising efforts, the letter states. “Since CPC is a fledgling organization financially, and I wanted our primary fund-raising efforts to be focused on the museum itself, I was intent on exploring other paths of dealing with the house,” Martin wrote. “I met with Doug Adams, Fern’s widower, shortly after I became president and shared with him my goals and strategic plans for CPC.” Though he said he received the board’s wishes with “utter shock and dismay,” Martin wrote the organization’s accomplishments over the last nine months were “like nutrition to me and served to inspire me to even greater heights.” “I remain committed to a lasting tribute to Patsy Cline,” he wrote. “I promise to emerge from this disappointing occurrence and will likely continue to explore other ways I can contribute my talents and strengths to honor Patsy Cline and ensure that her legacy endures.”

Originally Published In The Winchester Star On December 1, 2005







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