Loretta Lynn was always feisty, smart, and a consummate entertainer. So, of course,
she brought that same energy to planning her own funeral.
Country icon Loretta Lynn has died at age 90 at
her home in Tennessee. According to a family statement made to CNN,
"Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning,
October 4th, [...] at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills."
Lynn had a fascinating life, and the songs that she wrote about it brought her out of
poverty. According to a piece she wrote for Esquire, she married her husband at just 13
years old. She gave birth to their first child soon after. Lynn wrote,
"Working keeps you young. I ain't ever gonna stop. And when I do,
it's gonna be right on stage. That'll be it."
The fierce singer remained in the public eye well into her later years. In 2019,
she shut down rumors about her health on Facebook, writing,
"You're kidding me! I'm not dead and neither is Willie
[Nelson]! Both of us are coming back to life and we're gonna raise hell."
"You know, I feel great. I feel so good that I'm ashamed to even say I feel so good."
Shortly before Lynn's death, Radar Online revealed that the singer had
begun planning her own funeral. A family friend told the outlet,
"Loretta wants to turn most of her physical holdings into cash so she
doesn't burden her kids and grandkids with having to sell off stuff when she's gone."
She also reportedly left behind details for her memorial service,
which she hoped would include performances from her relatives and longtime friend Dolly Parton.
According to Rolling Stone, Parton serenaded Lynn
at her 90th birthday party. It would be unsurprising, then,
if all of her friends and family came together to honor the end of her life in a similar way.
Lynn also wished to be buried at the family cemetery on her ranch. The grounds serve
as the resting place for Lynn's husband and two of her children. The 3,500-acre
estate is a popular tourist attraction and frequently hosts motocross events.
It's fitting that Lynn wanted to incorporate music into her memorial service, as it's
something she turned to when dealing with the deaths of beloved family members. In 2018,
she tweeted that "Wouldn't It Be Great?" was the final song she wrote about her husband,
Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn, before his death in 1996. She revealed,
"I sang it to him when he was dying."
In July 2022, the singer marked the anniversary of her son Jack Benny Lynn's death with an emotional
blog post about the grief she continued to struggle with nearly four decades after
losing him. According to the Daily Journal, Jack drowned in 1984 at age 34. She wrote,
"Most don't know that I started covering Willie Nelson's song 'You were Always on
My Mind' after Jack died. It was a way for me to tell him I still thought of him."
When talking to Billboard about her reluctance to retire in 2015, Lynn vowed not to turn her
back on music until the end and revealed another small detail about her funeral plans. She said,
"When they lay me down six feet under, [then] they can say,
'Loretta's quit singing.' I'll have on one of my gowns. That's morbid, but it's the truth."
Lynn's son, Jack, is one of her two children buried at
the family cemetery where Lynn will be buried. According to the singer,
Jack was one of many people who witnessed paranormal activity on the grounds of her
Hurricane Mills ranch, so those attending her funeral might want to keep their eyes peeled.
Lynn opened up about her son's experience when she invited the Travel Channel's "Ghost
Adventures" crew to investigate some of the mysterious sightings of apparitions
on her property. She believed that the ghosts of soldiers from a Civil
War battle were responsible for some of them, recalling how Jack once claimed that
a man dressed like a Confederate soldier tried to steal his boots.
"And he said, 'Mama, they were tryin' to pull my boots off.'"
"A Confederate soldier?"
"Uh-huh."
Lynn was a strong believer in the existence of spirits, even claiming that she made contact
with one during a séance at her home. Lynn said of her "Ghost Adventures" experience,
"I never was really afraid of the ghost in the
house until we watched the show — then I was scared half to death."