Almost from the day she was born, folks knew that she would be above average. Her good looks and winsome smile became more and more evident with each passing day. Before she was ten years old, the rest of the family was firmly convinced that she was extraordinarily musically inclined. She would often spend Saturday evening listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the Silvertone radio in the living room of her family’s country home. In her teen-age years, nothing would put a smile on her face more than when she could sing along with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans as they rode off into the sunset to the sound of “Happy Trails To You”.
As each year passed, the only gift she ever wanted for
birthdays and Christmas was a little money to go in the “guitar fund” that she
kept in the Mason jar under the bed in her room. By the time she reached her
twentieth birthday, she had reached her goal of $10 – plus a little more. With
great excitement, she took the Sears and Roebuck catalog down from the shelf
and placed her order for a genuine Gene Autry “Roundup” guitar. Although it
seemed like an eternity, actually it was only three weeks later that she was able
to pick up the package at the post office in the small town near where they lived.
She practiced and practiced, sore fingers and all, until she
got quite good with the C, G7 and F chords. It wasn’t long until she could
strum and sing without even looking at the placement of her fingers on the neck
of the guitar. It was about that time she decided to have these photos taken.
She just knew that someday she would be a star and would need them to advance
her career. As her father got out the old Kodak camera, she dressed in her white hat and best cowgirl shirt, and going outside, they snapped a few for future use.
Not long after, she left the old homestead and moved to
Nashville – and every now and then – the rest of her family would gather ‘round
the old Silvertone on Saturday, listening closely and hoping to hear her as she
made her debut on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium along with the country and western greats of
that day. And who knows, I’ll just bet that it wasn’t very long before they
did.
