Loretta Lynn spent more than sixty years sharing her life with the world. She sang about her childhood, her marriage, her heartaches and her joys, and she wrote it all down in books and saw it turned into an Oscar-winning movie. But when the end came, her family made sure the first goodbye belonged only to them. It was planned so carefully that it even had its own code words.
The coal miner’s daughter
Loretta Webb was born on April 14, 1932, in Butcher Holler, near Van Lear, Kentucky, the second of eight children of a coal miner. As a teenager she married Oliver Lynn, whom she called “Doo” or “Doolittle.” He was the one who bought her first guitar and pushed her to sing professionally, driving her from radio station to radio station to promote her first record.
She went on to score 16 No. 1 hits and 51 Top 10 hits, with songs like “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Fist City” and “Don’t Come Home a’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).” Sissy Spacek won an Academy Award for playing her in the 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter. In 2013 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
For decades, Loretta and Doo made their home on a sprawling ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Doo died in 1996, after 48 years of marriage. He was buried in the family cemetery on the ranch, alongside two of their children who had died before him.
A plan made in secret
About a year and a half before Loretta’s death, her family contacted Luff-Bowen Funeral Home in nearby Waverly, Tennessee, to arrange everything in advance. The funeral home had served the Lynn family before, including Doo’s funeral.
Funeral director Lindsey Barker took charge. Loretta’s longtime assistant, Tim Cobb, who had designed many of her famous gowns and worked with her for more than 30 years, made one thing clear: when the time came, everything had to be absolutely private. No crowds at the house. No photographs.
Barker built a detailed plan. She also created a code phrase to use when the moment arrived:
“Snow has fallen in Hurricane Mills.”
She shared its meaning with only one colleague, funeral assistant Jerry Wright. For 18 months, she knew that whenever a call or text came, she would have to move immediately.
October 4, 2022
Loretta Lynn died peacefully in her sleep at her ranch on the morning of October 4, 2022. She was 90 years old. Just before 8 a.m., Barker received a text from Tim Cobb telling her Loretta was gone and asking her to come.
Barker and Wright drove to the ranch, about fifteen minutes away. They did not bring a hearse. Instead, they waited while family members arrived to say goodbye, then brought Loretta back to the funeral home in an ordinary Suburban. Local sheriff’s deputies and Waverly police kept watch outside.
One part of the plan had been settled from the very first day: Loretta would never be left alone. Barker stayed with her all night.
A casket named Snowball
The casket had been waiting in storage at the funeral home for months. Loretta’s family had chosen it, and the staff gave it a nickname: Snowball. It was a Batesville casket painted Cadillac diamond white, the same color as Loretta’s tour bus. A local auto body artist had painted her “Coal Miner’s Daughter” emblem on it.
Once Loretta was in the casket, the funeral staff stepped out of the room, and Tim Cobb dressed her and did her hair and makeup himself, just as he had done for so many shows. According to Barker, she looked ready to walk on stage.
Home to the ranch
The next day, Loretta was brought back to her ranch for two days of private visitation. Her casket was placed in her large bedroom, surrounded by glass cabinets filled with gifts from fans, things she had treasured for years.
On October 7, the family gathered once more. Then a small procession carried her up to the Lynn Family Cemetery, a gated plot on a hill on the ranch. Reports put the gathering at around 100 people; Barker remembered about 50 family members at the graveside. Her twin daughters, Patsy and Peggy, spoke. Her sister, Crystal Gayle, was there. The programs carried a photo of Loretta and Doo and her own handwritten lyrics to “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Loretta Lynn was laid to rest beside her husband, Doo.
Her daughter Peggy later wrote that her mother had “just knew” the end was near, and that she was happy to be going to heaven to be with Doo again.
A goodbye for the fans
Loretta had not forgotten her fans. Later that month, on October 30, a public tribute filled the Grand Ole Opry House, with performances by George Strait, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Jack White and many others. In a recorded message, Loretta thanked her fans for giving her such a great life, and told them that because of them, her children never had to grow up poor the way she did.
But the first goodbye, the one planned for eighteen months, was always meant to be quiet. A code phrase, a white casket named Snowball, a long night when she was never left alone, and finally a hill on her own land, next to the man who had believed in her from the start.