Hank Happenings


 

December 28, 2009

The Hank Williams Fan Club
P.O. Box 280
Georgiana, Al. 36033

It is with a heavy heart we bring this letter to you today.
Our Fan club has lost its most prominent member, our President.
For those of you who may not know by now, our wonderful Mary Wallace passed from this world on December 21st, 2009.
Mary met with a tragic accident in her home when she was cleaning and tried to remove a pistol hanging from a nail. The gun discharged shooting Mary in the chest. Her son Ray Jr. said her last words were to God when she simply asked him to forgive her if she had ever done anything to hurt anybody. She then closed her eyes and went to meet her God in heaven. I know without a doubt that this selfless and good hearted woman is in heaven with her husband Ray, her grandson John David, of course Hank, and all the loved ones who have gone on before her.
There was a memorial held for Mary at her church in Georgiana Dec. 23rd. 2009.
With it being so close to Christmas and so many unable to attend, there is talk of another memorial to be held in the form of a concert at a later date.

Our whole fan club, community, friends, have been crushed by this incident.
I personally have been devastated. I was elected to the board of directors one year ago.
In that year Mary had not only become my best friend, but we had begun to work very closely on new projects for the fan club.
This past Hank Festival, we brought back the songwriters contest. Something we hoped would grow and not only give songwriters exposure, but help raise a little money for the club.
After that Mary and I worked on our first ever October Fest and Antique Car Show.
Again, this was a project that our club hoped would grow into a full fledged Festival to not only help our fan club raise money but also help the city of Georgiana.
We learned a lot from that experience and had already begun working on our next Oct. fest.
I will never forget, we had no more finished cleaning up the club house that Sunday after the festival when one of us said to the other; "Well, what's next?" Mary said that Georgiana and McKenzie had a Christmas Parade. As tired as we both were, Mary picked up the phone, called the Mayor, and we immediately started making plans.
On December 5th, The Hank Williams Fan Club put a float in both parades. Mary was Mrs. Santa Claus, Colon Leatherwood was Santa Claus, and I was the Elf. Ed Kirby and his wife Brenda pulled our float. We threw beads, stuffed animals and candy.
I have never seen so many happy children.
Afterwards we came back to the fan club for an open house with holiday refreshments.

Hopefully you will be able to see pictures and read more about these projects when you receive your next news letter, which brings me to the next topic.
Mary did our news letters.
At this point we are uncertain who will take over this task. We will not know who is doing anything until we have a meeting in January.
At this time I would like to let you know a couple of other facts.
Mary was also in charge of our retail orders.
The people who had been doing our t-shirts etc. had some personal trouble.
They had asked us to please give them some time to work out their problems. Because they had worked with us for so long and because Mary is the kind and loving person she was, I believe she gave them too much time. I finally talked her into going with another company and had just picked up our order the week before she died.

I know several of you had orders in with Mary and I am working with Ray Jr. to try and find these orders. If you have not received an order you put in for, please let me know and I will try to check on it for you and take care of it ASAP.

Another thing that most of our faithful members did not know is that several months ago Mary was diagnosed with Lupus. The disease was affecting her physically, and mentally, she was starting to forget. She was the smartest, sharpest lady I knew, yet she desperately fought this demon. I believe this is why she worked so hard to get the new projects we worked on started.

Our new President is Mr. John Wise who we believe will do our fan club a good job.
Our fan club will go on but only with your support. It will never be the same without Mary for she was our rock, but we absolutely cannot do it without you!

Our fan club works to keep the memory of Hank Williams alive. As a memorial to Mary Wallace, one of the co-founders of the Hank Williams International Fan Club, let us continue to support that memory.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

Sincerely,

Sherri Brackin President: John Wise 706-476-1190
Director Secretary: Lewis Owens 334-504-3516
Hank Williams International Fan Club Treasurer: Ed Kirby 251-626-1645
251-490-5026

P.S. We are currently still working on trying to up date our membership list.
Please be patient with us but do not hesitate to let us know if we have made a
Mistake.

.

 

December 27, 2009

Dear Hank Fans,

It is with heavy heart that I write this letter. Our beloved President, Mary Wallace was accidentally killed in her home December 21st, 2009. Everyone I know in the Hank Willliams Fan Club and around the world has lost a great leader and friend. There is no doubt Mary will be missed. She made a huge impact on Butler County, Alabama, Georgiana and the world. As a friend and Vice President of the Hank Williams International Fan Club, I saw her in action many times. There was no more dedicated person to her community and the fan club which she helped organized. Upon her death, as Vice-President, I had to move up to the President's chair. I know how Harry Truman felt when President Roosevelt died. How can I fill the shoes of Mary Wallace? Well I'll tell you that no one alive that I know can do it; especially me. She can never be replaced. But the fact is, we must go on. That is what I think Mary wanted. As a matter of fact, I am sure of it. I assure you that myself, officers and board members will give it our best. We must not fail and we will not fail. I ask for your prayers and support as I lead this club forward. I will be available to any club member or non-member. Feel free to contact me at 678-752-9589, or e-mail johnr749@bellsouth.net. My home address is John R. Wise, 122 Woody Road Jackson, GA 30233. In closing I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope to see you all at the festival in Georgiana, Alabama the 2nd weekend in June 2010.

My love to you all.

John Wise
President, HWIFC


 

Mary Wallace-Hank Williams Historian Article In Planet Weekly
Click Here