Honky Tonk Angel (59 page)

A family friend noted that Julie rarely visited her grandmother but that Randy came frequently and always brought Mrs. Hensley gifts. Sylvia and Sam’s children lived locally and had a closer relationship. However, other than Randy and Julie, the other grandchildren aren’t mentioned in the will.

The Kent Street houses were listed for sale in 1999. Sylvia attempted to prevent the sale on the pretense of preserving “the family ties.” When that failed, she insisted the houses be sold as a package. That ploy also failed. In January 2000, the 605 and 608 Kent Street houses, assessed at $51,800 and $71,300 respectively, were sold.

The main interest was for 608, with the buyer planning to furnish it appropriately and have it open for tours. After renovations, it was listed for rental, an opportunity for “the ultimate Patsy Cline lover” to absorb her karma for only $625 a month. The rental had one catch: dealing with tourists who might make pilgrimages and knock on the door day or night.

By 2000 the division of other property, such as the costumes and other clothing Mrs. Hensley had made and personal items belonging to Patsy that had been loaned to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry Museum, was unresolved.

At a bank meeting with the estate administrator, Sam complained that he hadn’t received an equitable share and attacked on a new front—accusing his sister of removing a trunk from Mrs. Hensley’s home that contained a dress Patsy wore at the Hollywood Bowl and a replica of the off-white dress she wore at her final Kansas City performances.

“Things got loud,” observed a family friend, “and Sylvia became so enraged, she was forcibly removed. It was always about money with Sam. He often got quite angry with Hilda for giving money away [for music scholarships]. He thought any money made in Patsy’s name should go to the family. Sylvia didn’t think Sam should get a thing, which led to all the bickering.”

The friend also claimed that during this time Charlie insisted that the costumes and awards that had been in Mrs. Hensley’s possession since the mid-1960s be returned to him as they were part of Patsy’s legacy. “He stated he had only loaned them to Hilda.”

In early 2001 Sam and the estate administrator sued Sylvia over the trunk items and division of Patsy’s costumes and clothing. Sylvia maintained the trunk contained family photos, placed at her mother’s for safekeeping, and that she’d never seen the replica dress.

Sylvia and Sam’s private lives became very public as newspaper stories emboldened with graphic headlines detailed petty bickering. Circuit Court Judge John Wetsel attempted to get the siblings to settle. When they wouldn’t, proceedings began on February 28, 2002. Very shortly thereafter came a bombshell.

Opposing counsel alleged that among items in Sylvia’s unlawful possession was a book that Mrs. Hensley had been writing.

Rebecca Williams, Sam’s companion of eighteen years, testified that she had seen and read “at least nine legal pads crammed full of Hilda’s writings,” adding that Mrs. Hensley wanted the vignettes about her life with Patsy published “so that her children would be taken care of financially for the remainder of their lives.” Opposing counsel placed a value of $1.2 million on the manuscript materials and claimed that Mrs. Hensley had wanted the materials back.

Sylvia avowed in court that her mother had given her the pads to destroy in the mid-1990s after she’d informed Hilda that the book brought up painful childhood memories. This was corroborated by three witnesses, including Sylvia’s daughter Christine, who testified that her grandmother “wanted to wash her hands of the project and had handed over the work to Mother to do with as she wanted.” Sylvia testified that, with her mother’s permission, she did indeed destroy the work in her fireplace.

Of the proposed book, Jim Gibbons said, “It was an intimate memoir by a devoted mother. Hilda said she wanted to get the true story out to correct misconceptions about Patsy. She read to me portions dealing with she and Patsy being in New York for the Godfrey show. That was a thrilling time for Mom H, not only being on national TV but also seeing Patsy win. She read another section relating to a time she spent in Canada with Patsy.

“According to what Mom H told me, the bulk of what she was revealing had to do with Charlie’s treatment of Patsy. She never read that portion to me, but I counseled
her that there was the strong possibility Charlie would be very angry. She said, ‘I’m old and probably won’t be around when this gets published, so there won’t be any fallout for me from him.’”

She advised Gibbons that she had four publishers interested. “She needed the pages typed. Sibby and I offered. Of course, Mom H favored her daughter, but Sibby did nothing for almost a year—using personal issues, such as her pending divorce and her children—as excuses.”

On March 1, the court case was handed over to a panel of seven jurors. Considering the convoluted goings-on, everyone expected them to be out for days. As deliberations began, Sylvia, caught up in the fast-approaching anniversary of her sister’s death, was becoming visibly upset.

She didn’t have to endure pain long. The panel returned their verdict in two hours, noting that the plaintiffs had produced little evidence to support their case. It was unanimous: in relation to the four matters before the court, Sylvia had committed no crime. She burst into tears. It was vindication, but at what cost? Shattered that Sam would sue her, she told intimates that their relationship would never be the same.

There were more than thirty Cline-related items still in dispute. Three weeks later, “after letting the dust settle,” Judge Wetsel invited the parties to discuss which items could be sold or he would set another trial date. He explained to Sylvia that the plaintiffs might file an objection to the jury’s judgment and that “this thing needs to be settled.”

In April 2003, he ordered six of Patsy’s costumes to be sold to offset expenses. Almost $10,000 was raised. Over $35,000 was due the estate administrator. Sylvia, claiming legal bills approaching $60,000, said she was unable to pay. The judge ordered 140 pieces of clothing and memorabilia onto the auction block.

The matter dragged on. By late May 2004, with no agreement, Judge Wetsel, “wanting to see the wrangling end,” had them meet with a mediator. Using an egg timer to guarantee equal time, they went back and forth until all property was divided.

“Many feel that instead of destroying Mrs. Hensley’s memoir,” said a family friend, “Sibby squirreled it away. Nearly everyone found the proceedings a sad display of greed and jealously that would have Hilda spinning in her grave. Instead of fighting, Sibby and Sam should have pulled together after their mother’s death.”

The auctions—held in December 2002 at Beverly Hills’ Profiles in History (PIH) and 2003 and 2004 at Christie’s in Rockefeller Center, New York—were a devastating blow to fans. They were disheartened that Charlie, who had carefully groomed himself as a different person than the one depicted during his marriage, as protector of Patsy’s image and benefactor of millions in royalties, didn’t attempt to keep such valued history.

Julie wrote fans: “[it] is sad that my aunt and uncle can’t settle this matter.”

The auction contained a surprise. Mrs. Hensley had contacted PIH fifteen years earlier about how proceeds from the sale of her collection could go toward a museum. “She was in turmoil because raising the money [for a museum] would mean a sale of her daughter’s possessions,” said company president Joseph Maddalena.

The auction was a collector’s gold mine. Predictions had some lots bringing as much as $100,000. “It will be a win-win situation,” Maddalena pronounced, hoping buyers would in turn donate purchases to a museum.

There were eighteen lots—costumes fringed with white leather, casual wear, and cocktail dresses made by Mrs. Hensley but worthy of any top designer. Some lots contained a single outfit; others contained multiple items. The showstopper was the stunning black gown with three thousand sequins and matching purse with rhinestone clasp by Town and Travelwear, which Patsy had bought at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and worn in Las Vegas. It was estimated to go for $30,000 to $40,000 but failed to find a buyer.

Other highlights were a green silk chiffon dress with a cinch-waist belt by Academy Award-winning costume designer Helen Rose and the gold dress with black lace overlay bearing the label “Specially Hand Made and Fashioned by Hilda V Hensley,” created for Carnegie Hall (estimated $8,000-$12,000).

Seeing so many of her sister’s items going to the highest bidder, Sylvia tried to prevent the sale of sixteen lots of Patsy’s clothing and accessories in Christie’s November 2003 Entertainment Memorabilia auction by offering to sell her house.

The auction house estimated sales in the range of $27,000 to $35,000. Among the standouts were Patsy’s Western outfits in blue, green, and red—some fringed, some with rhinestones and music notes ($3,000-$3,500 each). In-person and telephone bidding was fierce on Patsy’s famed white boots, which fetched $21,000. All total, $124,000 was realized.

For their 2004 auction, Christie’s had eleven lots with estimates of $300 (costume jewelry) to $1,500 (clothing, costumes, and accessories). Remaining items included the Vegas gown and a rarely seen, elegant sleeveless black silk chiffon gown with pearl and rhinestone details that had a trailing scarf.

In a grassroots effort, fans raised $3,500 for CPC. Fans and collectors salvaged costumes and clothing worth $21,500, and a white Western hat for $3,585. The fan club/estate paid $2,500 for a Western outfit.

Fan and collector Brad Savage shopped both auctions, taking home seventeen outfits; among those, the Vegas gown for $4,500. Asked why he was buying Patsy Cline collectibles, he replied, “Patsy’s name stands alone in the pantheon of country music. There won’t ever be a greater female recording artist. Her songs are straight from the heart, from loneliness, from the soul; and with a pathos greater than any other artist. Her voice is something otherworldly, unique, magical.”

The final auction realized only $23,000.

Suddenly, it seemed, Sylvia was ready to accept those painful memories she’d spoken of in court. A year after the trial, she was telling people she was writing a book. “Many thought it was really Hilda’s notes,” claimed the friend. To date, there’s been no further mention of it. The November 2003 auction raised enough money to bring closure for Sylvia and Sam and a second trial became moot.

Though he married twice after Patsy deserted him (including once more to his first wife), Bill Peer took his love for Patsy to the grave. Hi son Larry, a musician living in Berryville, granted, “It was no secret Dad was head over heels for Patsy. She had a spell on him. He saw much potential in her, tried to develop that and go along for
the ride. He lavished his inheritance from his mother on Patsy, taking her to New York, Nashville, many other places, getting her recorded locally and paying for her first Nashville sessions. When the money ran out, she left him. ”

One of the musicians in Peer’s Melody Boys surmised, “I don’t know if Patsy ever loved Bill. She certainly used him. In 1956 he worked some kind of deal at Goode Motors in Charles Town, where he worked in the parts department, and got her a new Buick. She saw it and bemoaned, ‘Oh, I wanted a Cadillac.’”

Patsy got her Cadillac the next year from Charles Town jeweler Bill Henesy, who also had an auto dealership. She was a bit disappointed. It was a convertible, buffed to a high sheen, but nonetheless a used car.

In March 1951 Patricia Virginia was born to Bill and Jenny Peer. She was called Patsy. Many assume Peer named his daughter after Patsy, but, refuted Larry, it was the other way around. “Dad didn’t even meet Virginia Hensley until 1952.”

He remembers the uproar when his mother discovered the Valentine’s card Patsy sent Bill in 1955 with a photo of Patsy in her undies and signed “Love, Patsy.” Observed Larry, “That was all the proof Mom needed to prove what she’d suspected. ”

Even after their professional and personal breakup, Peer kept popping back into Patsy’s life when she played local dates and on occasions when Patsy returned to the Brunswick Moose Lodge with Charlie.