Patsy Will Be Heard On High

Jim Kniceley stands by a bell tower in Shenandoah Memorial Park that was dedicated to Patsy Cline 17 years ago. Once a new sound system is put in place, the tower will play songs by Patsy at 6:00 p.m. daily.

by Linda McCarty
Edition Staff Writer

Photos by Ginger Perry

When more than 200 people braved the wet weather 17 years ago to attend the dedication ceremony of a bell tower for Patsy Cline, they expected it to live up to its purpose.

Since then, the only sound from the 40-foot-tall structure within sight of Patsy’s grave in Shenandoah Memorial Park on Front Royal Pike has been the occasional chirping of a bird stopping by for a rest.

The problem with the chimeless bell tower is about to be solved, said one of the country music legend’s fans, Winchester resident Jim Kniceley.

About three months ago, Jim organized a committee to raise money for a tower sound system.

“We’ve collected $1,000,” Jim said.

Most of the money has been earmarked for a system that will feature Patsy singing one of her hit songs every day at 6 p.m.

“It’s a battery-operated amplifier with a timer that turns on a tape,” said Frederick County resident Don Daugherty, who designed and built the system.

The battery will be secured in a brick, podium-like arrangement near a similar structure holding the dedication plaque.

The new podium, Jim said, was donated by Ricketts Construction Co. of Winchester.

Jim said the bell tower has been dormant because there was no way to bring electricity from a power pole beside Papermill Road, which borders the cemetery on the south.

“The battery-operated system will solve that problem,” Jim said.

The $25,000 tower, which was built with donations, was dedicated on Sept. 6, 1987, following speeches by dignitaries praising the community’s recognition of the hometown country music star.

Patsy was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on Sept. 8, 1932, in Winchester. She was returning from a Kansas City benefit concert in 1963, when she died in a plane crash near Camden, Tenn.

Jim was vice president of the tower fund-raising committee.

The sound-system committee — which includes Secretary Janet Kniceley and Treasurer Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf — is hoping to collect even more money to pay for the tower’s maintenance.

“The tower needs a facelift,” said Stonewall District Supervisor Lynda Tyler, who is a member of the Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. organization. “It needs painting and probably some of the nuts and bolts need to be replaced.”

Lynda said the sound system committee also is seeking the donation of a crane to lift someone up to mount the speaker.

“When this is done, I think it’s going to be wonderful that there is finally going to be Patsy singing at a specific time a day for fans who come out here,” Lynda said. “It will add to the significance of coming to her grave.”

The sound system will be dedicated at 1 p.m. on Sept. 5, as a part of the annual Patsy Cline Weekend celebration.

“Generally fans come for special events on Friday and Saturday during the Labor Day weekend and leave on Sunday,” Lynda said, “but this year they will have something to do on Sunday.”

Contributions of a crane or for the maintenance fund can be made by calling Jim at (540) 662-8859.

Don Daugherty (from left), Lynda Tyler, and Jim Kniceley stand in front of the Patsy Cline bell tower at Shenandoah Memorial Park. Once a sound system is installed, the tower will play songs by the legendary country singer.

JULY 15, 2004

by Linda McCarty
The Winchester Star

Patsy Cline’s Family Opposes Use of Singer’s Hits.

He lives more than 500 miles away, but Charlie Dick’s phone and fax machine began ringing on Wednesday after people read a story in The Winchester Star.

The story announced plans to play songs by Patsy Cline — Dick’s late wife — from a bell tower honoring the country music legend.

Under the original plan, some of Cline’s hit songs were to be played through a sound system installed on the tower near her grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park on Front Royal Pike south of Winchester.

“Absolutely not,” Dick said during a telephone call to The Star from his home in the suburbs of Nashville. “The family is against singing of any sort from the tower, and Patsy will not be singing in that tower.”

Dick, 70, went on to say that if Patsy’s music was played from the tower, he might be forced to “come up there and cut the tower down.”

He does not want to force Cline’s music on people who may not like it, and did not feel the music would be respectful in a cemetery setting.

So the plans for the bell tower music have changed.

After Dick called the project’s planner, Winchester resident Jim Kniceley, the original idea was abandoned. And anyone interested in hearing Cline songs such as “Crazy” and “Sweet Dreams” will not be able to hear them at the cemetery.

“I told Charlie that we would put anything on the tape recording that he and the family believe is appropriate,” Kniceley said. “We agreed that it should be something soothing and pleasing to Patsy, in case she’s up there looking over us.”

Dick said he accepted Kniceley’s offer to help select the music. “We would like a sound similar to the chimes heard in Winchester at Grace [Evangelical] Lutheran Church.”

He also said he wanted the tape to include the melodies of two of Cline’s hymns, “Life’s Railway to Heaven” and “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.”

“Those two songs will be included, but definitely without Patsy singing them,” Dick said.

Kniceley said the 40-foot bell tower, dedicated 17 years ago, has been dormant because it cannot be connected to a power pole beside Papermill Road, which borders the cemetery on the south.

The problem was recently solved when Frederick County resident Don Daugherty designed and built a battery-operated amplifier with a timer that turns on a tape with recorded music.

The battery will be secured in a brick podium-like arrangement near a similar structure holding the tower’s dedication plaque.

Kniceley said he formed a committee about three months ago to raise money for the tower sound system and has collected $1,000.

The original plan was to feature Cline singing one of her hit songs every day at 6 p.m.

“The tapes haven’t been recorded yet, but I can put any kind of music you want on them,” Daugherty said. “I could put ‘Jingle Bells’ on them for Christmas, but I’ll do whatever I’m told to do.”

Kniceley said the sound system will be dedicated on Sept. 5, during the annual Patsy Cline Weekend celebration.

“We always end the celebration with a memorial service at the cemetery on Sunday [of] Labor Day weekend. Jim and I agreed that since we were going to be out there at the same time, why not have both ceremonies at the same time,” Dick said.

“I think everything is going to work out now.”

Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on Sept. 8, 1932, in Winchester. She and Dick were married in 1957 and had two children, Julie and Randy.

Dick was at home with their children in Nashville on March 5, 1963, when he received word that his wife, returning from a benefit concert in Kansas City, Mo., had died in a plane crash near Camden, Tenn.

Dick, a Frederick County-area native raised near Apple Pie Ridge, said he decided to bury his wife locally, because he thought he and the children would eventually move back home.

“But we’d made too many good friends in Nashville, and that’s where I decided we should stay. But I have two brothers who still live up there, and I come back to visit them.”