A couple of daughters who followed right in their mother's musical footsteps.
Teaming up with the descendants of other country music legends.
A daughter and a son who died far too young.
Loretta Lynn's children have lived lives just as fascinating as their superstar mother's.
According to Loretta Lynn's autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, she didn't know how
babies were made until she found out that she was pregnant with her first child Betty
Sue at the doctor's office when she was sixteen.
Betty Sue was born on November 26, 1948 while Loretta and her husband, Doolittle "Mooney"
Lynn, were living in Washington.
"When you look back on this crazy life, what do you feel grateful and thankful for?"
"My kids."
Loretta thought that Betty Sue was going to be a boy and she'd already chosen the name
"Jack."
When the nurse told her she had a girl instead, she cried because she thought she'd disappointed
Doolittle.
But she needn't have worried, as he told her he was happy that it was a girl.
As Loretta wrote in her autobiography, her mother-daughter bond with Betty Sue was so
strong that she could tell from her dreams whether Betty Sue was sick or happy.
While Betty Sue was still a teenager, she married Paul Markworth of Milwaukee.
They then had two daughters: Loretta Lynn, whom everybody would call Lynn, and Audrey.
Like her mother, Betty Sue was also a talented songwriter.
Under the name "Tracey Lee," she wrote three or four songs that were recorded by Loretta.
Betty Sue's death
In 2013, Betty Sue Lynn passed away in her home at the age of 64, leaving behind her
two daughters and five grandchildren.
The cause of death was complications related to emphysema.
On the first anniversary of Betty's death, Loretta issued a tribute to her eldest daughter
during a private show at the family's ranch.
She explained that her grief still wavers and that she misses the daily phone chats
she would have with Betty.
In July of 2021, on the anniversary of Betty Sue's death, Loretta wrote on Instagram,
"She was a great songwriter and we were big friends [...] I still sometimes pick up my
phone to call her.
She made me a mom first.
Sometimes it seemed like we were raising each other as young as I was!
I fell in love with her the moment I first saw her."
On December 7, 2021, on what would've been her son Jack's 72nd birthday, Loretta shared
a photo of Betty and Jack on Instagram.
She wrote in the caption,
"They were a handful but we had fun.
I always had one on each hip.
I still can't believe they're both gone [...] I don't cry when I think of them — I smile.
I sure do miss them though!"
Loretta and Doolittle Lynn's second child was born on December 7, 1949.
They named their first son Jack Benny, partly because his famous namesake was Loretta's
favorite comedian and partly because, as Loretta explained in her autobiography:
"Southern people like to use two names instead of one."
Alas, Jack apparently disliked people using his middle name.
After graduating from high school, he served in the army, mostly because he didn't want
his brother Ernest to one-up him by joining the Marines.
He also married his high school sweetheart Pat, though they eventually split up, much
to his mother's chagrin, but not before they had two children, Lora Kay and Jeffery Allen.
According to Loretta, Jack adored animals and tried working on the family ranch.
He was a blacksmith, horse trainer, and horseback rider, which made it all the more shocking
when a tragedy cut his life short.
"What do you think were really the most important things that happened in your life?"
"I'd probably think it would've been the hard times."
On July 24, 1984, the body of Jack Benny Lynn was found in Tennessee's Duck River.
He'd reportedly been trying to ford the river on his horse roughly three miles from his
home when he hit his head and drowned.
Loretta Lynn didn't find out about her son's death until the next day.
She was reportedly in an Illinois hospital for exhaustion from a tour when her husband
told her what happened.
To this day Loretta still posts tributes in memory of her eldest son.
In July 2021, she shared on Instagram,
"I've thought of him and missed him every day for 37 years.
He was a spitting image of his daddy.
He was my blond headed, blue-eyed baby.
Just what I asked for.
He was quiet and tender.
I adored him with all my heart."
She continued,
"He and Betty Sue got into everything when they were little and I was a new momma.
They kept me on my toes and I'd do it all again if I could.
They're together now."
Ernest Ray arrives
After giving birth to Jack Benny, Loretta Lynn suffered two miscarriages before getting
pregnant with her third child, Ernest Ray.
Labor with him was long and painful, and she wasn't able to sign her own consent form for
the cesarean section that she needed, as she was still technically a minor.
She needed the consent of her husband, who was away and unreachable.
Ultimately, she was able to give birth without the cesarean section, as Ernest Ray Lynn was
born on May 27, 1951.
Also known as "Ernie," Ernest Ray is an accomplished musician who frequently opens for his mother
on the road and has even appeared on some of her studio recordings.
But he's also had his fair share of trouble.
In 2003, he was charged with a DUI and vehicular homicide.
However, the victim's widow didn't want Ernie to be charged with homicide, which he pleaded
not guilty to.
The DUI couldn't be argued, though, as Ernie's blood alcohol concentration was reportedly
at 0.13 percent at the time of the accident.
In 2020, Ernie and his wife Crystal renewed their vows, and Loretta was there to celebrate.
As she shared on Instagram,
"Marriage isn't always easy — heck it's not even always pretty, but love holds you
together and you push through the bad days to enjoy the good ones.
I'm so proud of them and wish them years of happiness."
A little less than a year after the birth of Ernest Ray, Loretta Lynn welcomed her second
girl, Cissie Lynn, on April 7, 1952.
Her full name is Clara Marie, although that wasn't originally on her birth certificate.
According to Loretta, she and her husband waited four years to make it official after
a frustrated Doolittle refused to name the baby because a nurse insisted that the couple
had to give her one before leaving the hospital.
They eventually named her Clara Marie after Loretta's mother.
Loretta has described Cissie as "smart," "pleasant," and "a perfect child."
Like most of her siblings, she's also a songwriter.
She and her husband John Beams toured extensively until her father fell ill in the 1990s.
During their careers, they opened for some huge country music stars, including Conway
Twitty and George Jones.
"I dance on stage.
I cut up.
I tell jokes."
"She stole my dance."
"She did?"
"She stole my dance."
"It's been handed down."
Following in her mother's footsteps, Cissie Lynn has had a long and successful musical
career.
Her style is similar to Loretta's, enough so that in 2011 Mom even produced an album
of covers of her songs that featured Cissie.
The album was the first that Loretta had ever produced, which made Cissie proud.
As she gushed to Nashville Music Guide,
"It's hard to explain my feelings.
My children and my grandchildren will listen to this album and say that their Mama and
their Grandma did this all."
Cissie isn't just a professional musician, she's also a small business owner.
In 2006, she opened Cissie's Country Store and Music Barn across the street from her
mother's ranch in Tennessee.
It's not just a store, it's also a museum and live music venue that features autographed
pictures and albums from major country music stars, as well as a selection of handmade
goods.
With an almost five-star rating on Facebook, it sure sounds like the store is a hit with
visitors to Hurricane Mills!
Loretta Lynn thought she was done giving birth after her fourth baby arrived.
But life had other plans, and in 1963, she found out that she was pregnant once again.
The news was initially devastating to her, as she was a rising star in Nashville and
she feared that this would put an end to her singing career.
She and her husband Doolittle received an even bigger surprise when their doctor informed
her that she was actually carrying twins.
So on August 6, 1964, they welcomed their girls Patsy and Peggy.
The former was named after late friend and singer Patsy Cline, and the latter after Loretta's
sister Peggy Sue.
Although Loretta was initially apprehensive about having two more children, she found
that motherhood was easier after she'd had some financial success.
The youngest Lynn siblings would go on to inspire some of their mother's songs.
In "One's on the Way," for example, she sings about her frustration with finding out that
she's pregnant, as she declares,
"Gee, I hope it ain't twins again!"
But it sounds like the twins may not have appreciated the name-check.
In her autobiography, Loretta revealed,
"Patsy and Peggy don't like the song for that reason.
I guess that's why Dolly Parton is their favorite singer."
"Oh, gee, I hope it ain't twins again."
Peggy and Patsy have arguably enjoyed the most success on the stage out of all the Lynn
children.
Their earliest memories of their mother weren't of a stay-at-home mom living in poverty, but
instead of a country superstar who serenaded thousands of adoring fans every night.
In a 2019 interview with Lula 1892, Patsy explained,
"Becoming a singer wasn't a matter of having this grand dream or vision for me because
of our family make up.
It was just a fact."
Patsy maintains that she and Peggy never wanted to attain success by riding on their mother's
coattails.
During their first meeting with Warner Brothers Records, nobody knew that the girls were Loretta
Lynn's daughters.
They then signed with the label and released two albums, and their song, "Woman to Woman"
managed to crack the top twenty.
And in 1998 and 1999, The Lynns were even nominated for Best Vocal Duo at the CMA awards.
Although Peggy and Patsy Lynn performed together as a joint act, their interests don't overlap
completely.
As Patsy explained to Lula 1892,
"Peggy and I are different when it comes to music.
Peggy's love is performing, creating, writing stories [...] Those things weren't my cup
of tea, so doing that was hard for me.
My love is the studio.
I loved being in the studio, and I loved negotiating our publishing deals."
She continued to say,
"We worked because we needed the yin and the yang, and we provided that together.
I found my love in the studio, and that's what led to my producing."
Patsy has produced over 100 songs for her mother, including those on her album Wouldn't
It Be Great, which earned a Grammy nomination.
This proved to be a surreal experience for Patsy.
As she put it,
"I'm blown away by her genius; her vocals are amazing [...] On the one hand it's my
mom, but on the other, it's Loretta Lynn."
In 2018, Loretta Lynn's album Wouldn't It Be Great was released with help from her daughter
Patsy Lynn as a co-producer along with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny and June Carter
Cash.
"June would always hand me Johnny.
'Here, take care of the baby while I do my show.'"
It's fitting that Patsy worked on the release, as a press release noted that it was "one
of the most deeply personal albums of her career."
John Carter Cash and Patsy also co-produced Loretta's 50th album, Still Woman Enough,
which came out in 2021.
Despite the professional connection, Patsy and Loretta's relationship is still very familial.
As Patsy explained to Wide Open Country,
"The moment she walked in the door, she wanted to cook dinner for her kids.
She wanted to be a mom.
She didn't want to be Loretta Lynn, country singer.
She just wanted to be Loretta Lynn, Mooney Lynn's wife and these kids' mom."
Patsy also made sure to note,
"I tell everybody I've been so blessed because I get to know my mom on a whole other level
through getting to be creative with her in the studio and songwriting."
"58 years as the queen of country music.
Can you believe it?"
"No, I can't believe it.
I can't believe it all."
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