Loretta Lynn_ Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn [57]
All photographs from the personal collection of Loretta Lynn, except where otherwise noted.
Me and my cousin Marie Castle were closer than sisters—and we still are. This was taken when I was around four years old. We were so poor, I had to borrow the dress from Marie so I’d look nicer.
Right before I got married, they took this picture of me. It was along the railroad tracks up in Butcher Holler, right where they hauled the coal down from the mines. Those tracks ain’t there anymore—and neither is that thirteen-year-old girl you see. What ever became of her?
Marshall News Prints, Inc. (Paintsville Herald)
Doolittle looked just like a little toy soldier the first time I ever saw him. The army took this picture, and they ran it in the Paintsville Herald. He was around seventeen at the time—but he looks younger, doesn’t he? Right after this, he got shipped to Europe for the last part of the war.
Sometime during the war, Mommy and Daddy posed outside Daddy’s father’s house, right up the holler from our place. You can see the rough logs from the house, right above Daddy’s head, and you can see the hills slanting off to the side. That’s real Kentucky mountain country.
Bob Parker from Straus Printers, Lithographers, Madison, Wis.
On the night I announced I was getting married, Daddy paced for hours on the porch you see here. He and Mommy told me it was the worst decision I could ever make. Whenever I visit the old home now, I can feel Daddy’s presence very strongly on that porch—and other people have told me the same thing.
Daddy was real gentle with kids. That’s why I expected so much out of marriage, figuring that all men should be steady and pleasant, like my Daddy. He sure looks big and strong, don’t he? But actually he was only around 117 pounds and five feet, eight inches tall.
I bought my first stage outfit when I was making five dollars a night at Bill’s Tavern in Washington State. Doolittle gave me that Gibson guitar—that got me started—for my birthday. I used to wear cowboy hats in those days. I was real country.
That cute little guy I’m cuddling up with is my husband, folks. I sure look different myself, don’t I? Well, I was around twenty-one years old and was taking care of four kids and didn’t have much time or money for myself. Heck, I had just about figured out what was causing all them kids.
Right after Daddy died, Mommy drove out with the family to visit us in Washington. That’s Brenda (now called Crystal Gayle), Betty Ruth, Peggy Sue, me, Mommy, and Jay Lee.
Herald Staff Photo, Bellingham, Washington
The Bellingham newspaper sent out a photographer after I won all the blue ribbons for canning at the state fair. If I knew how I’d done it, I would have told ’em.
Who did you expect Doolittle would name his boat after? He hadn’t seen Dolly Parton yet! We used to go fishing along the coast of Washington. Jack and Ernest Ray helped hold up the fish, while Betty Sue kind of watched.
Zero Records
Doolittle took this picture of me and developed it himself. Then we passed out a copy to every disc jockey from Washington to Nashville. I didn’t know nothing about makeup in those days—Doo wouldn’t even let me use it.
That’s history being made on October 15, 1960—my first time on the Grand Ole Opry. Everybody else was so casual, playing for that audience, but I was scared to death. The fans cheered so hard, I got invited back, week after week, and that was how I got to stay in Nashville.
We really thought we had it made in 1962. We rented this little house in Madison, Tennessee, for $100 a month, and we sent for our four kids up in Indiana. I was getting $50 a date then, and we saved up $600 to buy this car. We thought we was flying