Patsy Cline fan club keeps coming back

by Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — For two decades, fans of the late country singer Patsy Cline have been meeting here during the Labor Day weekend to share their feelings for a talent lost much too soon.

"People come back year after year," said Harold Madagan, who keeps Cline’s memory alive at Gaunt’s Drug Store, where she once worked as a teenager.

Charlie Dick, Cline’s widower, thinks of the event as a reunion. "[It’s] like a family. I’ve come all 20 years," said the Winchester native who lives in Nashville, Tenn.

Dick said he expects their daughter Julie Fudge to attend and bring her children. "If it works out, school-wise."

The memorial weekend is organized by the Always Patsy Cline Fan Club, led by Charlie Dick’s brother, Mel Dick.

The club will gather for dinner at the Winchester Travelodge on Front Royal Pike (U.S. 522 South) at 6:15 p.m. Friday, Mel Dick said, for a prime rib dinner, entertainment, and a silent auction.

Reservations are necessary to attend the dinner, he added, and fans can make them by calling 662-3517,

On Saturday, a luncheon for fan club members only will be held.

On Sunday, a memorial service is scheduled at Cline’s grave in Shenandoah Memorial Park, also on Front Royal Pike. The public is invited to attend.

Friends of Cline from her days in Nashville, such as singer George Hamilton IV, will attend the event.

Cline, who was born in Gore, grew up in Winchester and started her singing career on WINC Radio.

She began her rise to national acclaim in 1957 when she impressed a national television audience while competing on "Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts." She joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1958.

Cline’s career was cut short when she died in a plane crash in 1963 while returning to Nashville from a concert.

The Labor Day weekend was chosen for the annual celebration because it falls close to her Sept. 8 birthday.

Madagan said he will be at Gaunt’s Friday and Saturday to "give my 10-minute spiel," about Cline and her time as an employee behind the soda fountain of the "corner drugstore."

He has collected many newspaper articles and photographs of Cline, born Virginia Patterson Hensley 75 years ago.

"I look forward to seeing them," Madagan said of his visitors, many of whom make the trip annually. "I think they’re glad I’m still here."

Until a local group, Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc., can raise the funds for a museum to honor the country music legend, Madagan said his store is as close to a museum as Winchester has.

"I’m a fill-in," he said of his collection of memorabilia, including one of the old booths from the days when the drugstore welcomed teens to its soda fountain.

Gaunt said he would still like to see Cline’s fans buy his building and turn it into a museum to her, because of its connection to her life. It is also just a few blocks from the house on Kent Street where Cline spent her teenage years.

"We could put the fountain back in and have a gift shop," Madagan suggested.

He has owned the business for 35 years, and it was in operation for 30 years before that, he added.

"I’m the dinosaur druggist," he said with a smile. "We’re lucky to still be in business."