PATSY CLINE, (Virginia Patterson Hensley), was born in the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932. The family home was in nearby Gore. Legend has it that she was entertaining her neighbors as early as age 3! Her natural talent and spirit took her to the top of the country charts in 1962, and her style and popularity has never waned.

Patsy's big break came when she won an Arthur Godfrey Talent program in 1957 with the hit Walkin' After Midnight. From there she pursued a recording career appearing at the mecca of country music - the Grand Ole Opry in 1958, and received national awards in 1961 and 1962.

Country music lost a magical entertainer when her career was ended in an airplane crash in Tennessee, in 1963.

In 1973 Patsy was elected posthumously to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and her reputation is on record as one of the major female vocalists of all time.



A bell tower has been erected in her memory at the Shenandoah Memorial Park, where Patsy Cline is interred. Several Highways, including the Patsy Cline Memorial Highway, Route 522, and Patsy Cline Boulevard in Winchester, have been named to commemorate her life.