Post by Scully on Sept 24, 2013 7:31:27 GMT -6
Longtime Cash home still draws loyal fans
Graveside vigil honors music icons
Written by Tena Lee
The Hendersonville Star News
Tommy Cash, Johnny Cash's brother, and Kathy Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, lead family and fans in singing 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' at a graveside candlelight vigil Thursday at Hendersonville Memory Gardens and Funeral Home in honor of Johnny Cash's death 10 years ago in 2003. / Phil Stauder/For The Hendersonville Star News
Did you know?
Johnny Cash died Sept. 12, 2003, of complications from diabetes at the age of 71. His wife, June Carter Cash, died four months prior to his death.
The two called Hendersonville home for more than three decades, hosting some of the biggest names in entertainment and country music at their Caudill Drive home on Old Hickory Lake. Bought by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees in late 2005, the home burned to the ground in 2007. Gibb vowed to rebuild, but hasn’t, and still owns the property.
The House of Cash gift shop and museum located on Johnny Cash Parkway (that is also East Main Street) drew scores of tourists to Hendersonville in the 1970s and 1980s who were often greeted by Cash’s mother, Carrie Cash, and his sister Reba Hanthingy. It is now an office building owned by real estate developer Danny Hale.
The Johnny Cash Museum opened earlier this year in downtown Nashville, and in June the U.S. Postal Service released its Johnny Cash Forever Stamp as part of its Music Icon series.
Each clutching a single red rose, Edward Snoek and Marianne Meyer didn’t say a word as they paid their respects, leaving the flowers on the headstones of Johnny and June Carter Cash.
The couple made it a priority to visit Hendersonville Thursday to see the final resting place of the music icons on their three-week vacation from the Netherlands.
That part wasn’t unusual. On average, 15-20 people visit the gravesites at Hendersonville Memory Gardens each day, said funeral home manager Rachel Marshall. Many of those visitors hail from overseas, especially from countries such as England and Australia, leaving tokens like money, guitar picks and alcohol.
But Thursday was a special day to honor the Man in Black — it was the 10-year anniversary of the day he died. June Carter also died in 2003. Members of the Cash family held a graveside candlelight vigil to honor the occasion, drawing about 150 fans to an intimate nighttime gathering that included songs and storytelling.
“It just doesn’t seem like he’s been gone that long,” said Snoek, 52, who counts Cash’s early “Folsom Prison Blues” among his favorites. “The music will live on the same as with Elvis and John Lennon. The music goes on long after they’re gone.”
Locals came to pay their respects, too. Brandon Parchman and Molly Shato drove from Millersville. Shato, 30, grew up hearing her parents play Cash’s music in their house.
“He was a big influence for me growing up,” she said. “I liked the music, but I liked the person he was, too.”
Hendersonville was long a draw for Cash fans when Johnny and June were living in the waterfront house on Old Hickory Lake that was their home for nearly three decades. So it’s natural that fans still flock to the city to remember the Cashes, said Kelly Hanthingy, who works at the newly opened Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville and is the niece of the famous pair.
“This is where they lived and spent so much of their lives,” she said. “They shopped here. They entertained here ... and they loved it here.”
The Caudill Drive house, bought by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees in late 2005, burned to the ground in 2007. Gibb vowed to rebuild, but hasn’t, and still owns the property.
Surrounded by markers of other Cash and Carter family members Thursday, Emma Doran found what she expected when she envisioned the gravesite before she left her home in Manchester, England, for Nashville — a simple and understated memorial.
“They came across as that kind of a family,” she said. “More about family values than flash.”
Though Johnny Cash has been inducted into the halls of fame for country music, rock ‘n’ roll and gospel music, attendants of Thursday’s vigil remembered a man who was admired as a father, brother and friend.
“After 10 years, we can finally come up here without sobbing our heads off and being completely vulnerable,” said Johnny’s daughter, Kathy Cash. “It’s a huge loss for us, but we realize it is for the world, too. And so we just wanted to share it with whoever wanted to come, and I was pleasantly surprised so many people came out.”
About 150 gathered under a tent at the site after a soaking rain had moved across the city earlier in the day. Hendersonville resident Tommy Cash, Johnny’s brother, led the crowd in a rendition of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” before asking fans if they would like to share memories. Several told stories of how Cash’s music touched their lives, or recalled encounters with the legend, who had offered words of wisdom never forgotten.
After the vigil, participants attended an unveiling of a Cash portrait commissioned by funeral home owner Bill Gregory.
The family plans to make the vigil an annual event in the city where so many Cash memories were made. Hanthingy, the niece, once worked at the House of Cash gift shop and museum alongside her mother, Reba Hanthingy, Johnny Cash’s now-deceased sister. The museum, which closed in the 1990s, is now owned by real estate developer Danny Hale. It was located on a section of East Main Street that still carries the name Johnny Cash Parkway.
If Sumner County Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Barry Young gets his wish, the Cash name will continue to draw tourists to Hendersonville. Young says he’s working with Hanthingy and others to bring tours back to the city.
“They realize Hendersonville was his home and they want to include us in what they’re doing,” he said.
Tourists spent $105 million in Sumner County in 2011, according to the tourism director. But he believes Sumner’s rich musical heritage, which includes the Cashes, could play a larger role in increasing that amount.
Though the Cash home burned in 2007 and the museum is now an office building, fans still want to see glimpses of their lives, he said.
“It amazes me how people still want to drive by where they worked, where they lived,” Young said. “It’s like it’s music holy ground. It’s the same as Graceland. They don’t care how far they have to drive and they just have to get there.”
Reporter Tena Lee can be reached at 575-7116 ortlee@mtcngroup.com.
Graveside vigil honors music icons
Written by Tena Lee
The Hendersonville Star News
Tommy Cash, Johnny Cash's brother, and Kathy Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, lead family and fans in singing 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' at a graveside candlelight vigil Thursday at Hendersonville Memory Gardens and Funeral Home in honor of Johnny Cash's death 10 years ago in 2003. / Phil Stauder/For The Hendersonville Star News
Did you know?
Johnny Cash died Sept. 12, 2003, of complications from diabetes at the age of 71. His wife, June Carter Cash, died four months prior to his death.
The two called Hendersonville home for more than three decades, hosting some of the biggest names in entertainment and country music at their Caudill Drive home on Old Hickory Lake. Bought by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees in late 2005, the home burned to the ground in 2007. Gibb vowed to rebuild, but hasn’t, and still owns the property.
The House of Cash gift shop and museum located on Johnny Cash Parkway (that is also East Main Street) drew scores of tourists to Hendersonville in the 1970s and 1980s who were often greeted by Cash’s mother, Carrie Cash, and his sister Reba Hanthingy. It is now an office building owned by real estate developer Danny Hale.
The Johnny Cash Museum opened earlier this year in downtown Nashville, and in June the U.S. Postal Service released its Johnny Cash Forever Stamp as part of its Music Icon series.
Each clutching a single red rose, Edward Snoek and Marianne Meyer didn’t say a word as they paid their respects, leaving the flowers on the headstones of Johnny and June Carter Cash.
The couple made it a priority to visit Hendersonville Thursday to see the final resting place of the music icons on their three-week vacation from the Netherlands.
That part wasn’t unusual. On average, 15-20 people visit the gravesites at Hendersonville Memory Gardens each day, said funeral home manager Rachel Marshall. Many of those visitors hail from overseas, especially from countries such as England and Australia, leaving tokens like money, guitar picks and alcohol.
But Thursday was a special day to honor the Man in Black — it was the 10-year anniversary of the day he died. June Carter also died in 2003. Members of the Cash family held a graveside candlelight vigil to honor the occasion, drawing about 150 fans to an intimate nighttime gathering that included songs and storytelling.
“It just doesn’t seem like he’s been gone that long,” said Snoek, 52, who counts Cash’s early “Folsom Prison Blues” among his favorites. “The music will live on the same as with Elvis and John Lennon. The music goes on long after they’re gone.”
Locals came to pay their respects, too. Brandon Parchman and Molly Shato drove from Millersville. Shato, 30, grew up hearing her parents play Cash’s music in their house.
“He was a big influence for me growing up,” she said. “I liked the music, but I liked the person he was, too.”
Hendersonville was long a draw for Cash fans when Johnny and June were living in the waterfront house on Old Hickory Lake that was their home for nearly three decades. So it’s natural that fans still flock to the city to remember the Cashes, said Kelly Hanthingy, who works at the newly opened Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville and is the niece of the famous pair.
“This is where they lived and spent so much of their lives,” she said. “They shopped here. They entertained here ... and they loved it here.”
The Caudill Drive house, bought by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees in late 2005, burned to the ground in 2007. Gibb vowed to rebuild, but hasn’t, and still owns the property.
Surrounded by markers of other Cash and Carter family members Thursday, Emma Doran found what she expected when she envisioned the gravesite before she left her home in Manchester, England, for Nashville — a simple and understated memorial.
“They came across as that kind of a family,” she said. “More about family values than flash.”
Though Johnny Cash has been inducted into the halls of fame for country music, rock ‘n’ roll and gospel music, attendants of Thursday’s vigil remembered a man who was admired as a father, brother and friend.
“After 10 years, we can finally come up here without sobbing our heads off and being completely vulnerable,” said Johnny’s daughter, Kathy Cash. “It’s a huge loss for us, but we realize it is for the world, too. And so we just wanted to share it with whoever wanted to come, and I was pleasantly surprised so many people came out.”
About 150 gathered under a tent at the site after a soaking rain had moved across the city earlier in the day. Hendersonville resident Tommy Cash, Johnny’s brother, led the crowd in a rendition of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” before asking fans if they would like to share memories. Several told stories of how Cash’s music touched their lives, or recalled encounters with the legend, who had offered words of wisdom never forgotten.
After the vigil, participants attended an unveiling of a Cash portrait commissioned by funeral home owner Bill Gregory.
The family plans to make the vigil an annual event in the city where so many Cash memories were made. Hanthingy, the niece, once worked at the House of Cash gift shop and museum alongside her mother, Reba Hanthingy, Johnny Cash’s now-deceased sister. The museum, which closed in the 1990s, is now owned by real estate developer Danny Hale. It was located on a section of East Main Street that still carries the name Johnny Cash Parkway.
If Sumner County Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Barry Young gets his wish, the Cash name will continue to draw tourists to Hendersonville. Young says he’s working with Hanthingy and others to bring tours back to the city.
“They realize Hendersonville was his home and they want to include us in what they’re doing,” he said.
Tourists spent $105 million in Sumner County in 2011, according to the tourism director. But he believes Sumner’s rich musical heritage, which includes the Cashes, could play a larger role in increasing that amount.
Though the Cash home burned in 2007 and the museum is now an office building, fans still want to see glimpses of their lives, he said.
“It amazes me how people still want to drive by where they worked, where they lived,” Young said. “It’s like it’s music holy ground. It’s the same as Graceland. They don’t care how far they have to drive and they just have to get there.”
Reporter Tena Lee can be reached at 575-7116 ortlee@mtcngroup.com.