When I first learned about the death of country music artist Loretta Lynn at the age of 90, my thoughts immediately went back to a time in my early teens when my Dad talked about meeting Loretta Lynn and her husband.

My father loved country music and may have been frustrated this his oldest son, me, never cared for it.  I lost my Dad 28 years ago and did not realize until he was gone why he loved country music so much.

My father, Bernie Lannan, was raised on a farm south of Loogootee in Martin County, Indiana.  He was one of ten children.  Life was very hard on that farm for himself and all his siblings.

My Dad would briefly talk about how tough life was on that farm, but his brothers, my uncles, were quite vivid in their description of life on the Lannan farm – it was hard, very hard.

The family did have a respite on Saturday nights when everyone gathered around the radio (no TV in those days) and listened to the Grand Old Opry broadcast on Nashville radio station WSM.  He had fond memories of listening to Roy Acuff and Dottie West.

I cannot recall exactly how old I was when Dad showed me an autographed photo from Loretta Lynn, where the singer wrote about all of us in the family by name.  Dad had frequented an establishment in those days that featured country music recording artists and Loretta Lynn was the act for that night.

Dad was with some friends and one in the group had served in the National Guard.  It turns out Ms. Lynn’s husband had also served in the guard, so the husband gravitated to my dad’s table and they all got to know him an his wife Loretta.

Remember, this was very early in Ms. Lynn’s career, long before Coal Miner’s Daughter was a hit song, book and film.  She was on the country charts with her music then, but wasn’t well known outside those circles.

As an aside, I began my radio career in the early 1970s working at small radio stations and we would have people with a record in their hand show up at any time, day or night, pleading with the disc jockey to play the record.  If you saw the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter, that is just what Loretta Lynn and her husband did and it paid off for them.

I do not believe the signed photo of Loretta Lynn survived the many moves of my parents, but I do remember how excited Dad was to have that photo and autograph.  Unfortunately, I had never heard of Loretta Lynn at that time so I likely disappointed my Dad by my lack of any reaction.

But now I understand why my Dad loved country music so much.  It brought back fond memories of his days on the farm.  His chance to see Loretta Lynn sing early in her career was a great memory for my Dad.  It was only recently that I fully understood why.