It was a different time for country music stars in the early 1960’s. Many performed on “package shows” with other stars, travelling from gig to gig in cramped cars and station wagons. Tour buses were a luxury only a few had back then.

Stories abound about Patsy Cline. Mel Tillis drove the car. A young teenage Barbara Mandrell did Patsy’s hair.

And many stars became close friends with their fans. Some would open their Nashville homes to visiting fans. Some would stay at their fans’ homes when on tour. Patsy did. And she had many friends on this side of the border.

In the documentary, “Remembering Patsy,” Michelle Wright read letters to and from Patsy in a correspondence with a fan and friend in Ontario. They would often host and entertain each other when they visited each other. Candid photos of those moments are cherished.

And retired booking agent Marilyn Caswell and her husband Joe, then based in London, were additional Ontario friends of Patsy’s. Marilyn kept a guest book and had visitors to her home sign it. Patsy signed her name and wrote, “Thanks for being so kind to me + you’re fine folks to know.” Cline even wrote her Nashville address in the book.

Below Patsy’s entry is one from Cowboy Copas. It reads, “Thanks so much for everything.”

Both entries are exactly ten months to the day before both Patsy and Cowboy would be killed in a plane crash, 57 years ago today. Singer Hawkshaw Hawkins and pilot Randy Hughes also lost their lives in the crash. It had been a stormy night when the plane went down and the wreckage wasn’t found until the next morning.

That event was also bookmarked with tragedy. The stars were returning to Nashville having played a benefit in Kansas City for a radio announcer who had been killed in a car accident. A few days after the plane crash, Jack Anglin, of the brother duo Johnnie & Jack, was killed in another car accident on his way to the memorial service for Patsy.

Patsy’s music has continued long after her short life, inspiring many, many female singers. Some people still living today have special personal memories of the phenomenal vocalist. Fewer still have a memento to remember their friend by, to remember the person before she became a tragic legend.