Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

My dad has been sending out great stories over the past couple of months retelling memories from his childhood and things he's discovered while doing genealogy research. About a week ago he sent me this tid-bit about country music legend Hank Williams and my Grandpa.

"This is a story about something that I remember Daddy telling me about when I was young. Daddy would always say that he could remember when Hank Williams would come home! He said you could see the dust fly from Hank's car as he sped fast down the old dirt roads of Walton County.

In the late 1940 to early 1950's, Hank Williams would come to visit friends in Gaskin, Florida. He would stop from time to time to visit with Bud and Nancy Jane Collingsworth, whose farm was located directly behind your great-Grandpa's farm. The Collingworth land joined our family's land and they grew to be good neighbors and friends who would often attend church together.

Gaskin, Florida is such a small town that nothing would go unnoticed. You could bet if the word got out that Hank Williams was coming to visit the Collingsworth's Farm, everyone knew about it! If he showed up unannounced, the word would pass from farm to farm and the secret would be leaked quickly. Hank Williams had already made his name known in just about every household in America and certainly throughout the Southern states. He was singing on most radios in every household in the South. He was Southern born and Southern raised and he could relate to the small farmers that had to fight to make a living for their families. He was also on the Grand Ole Opry which most Southern families grew up listening to on the radio on Saturday nights.

When Hank was home, most people in the area would go to the Collingsworth's farm to listen to him. Of course, these concerts were never recorded and no one has any record of the music he played. The songs he played varied depending upon what people were in the mood to hear. Being hard working Christian folks, the music of choice was often what we'd consider today to be gospel music.

Hank must have felt at home in Walton, County, because he made many trips back. This was where I'm sure that Daddy had gotten to see Hank play his music, or at least where he watched him as he flew down the dirt roads of Walton, County.

Mama also told me an interesting story of another family in town that Hank would visit. They were Mama and Papa Neil McCormick. The McCormicks loved to sing and play gospel music and often played in the churches around Walton Country. Mama said that the McCormicks would play gospel music with Hank and that they had even appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. By the early 1950's everyone in Walton County had heard of Mama and Papa Neil McCormick.

Although, I could not find much about their appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, I did find some evidence that supports the fact that the McCormicks were indeed friends of Hank. When Papa Neil McCormick ran for Sheriff of Walton County, Hank Williams did two radio spots in DeFuniak Springs for his friend. I don't know if Neil ever became Sheriff or not, but from what I have read he was an interesting character. He was a Creek Indian just like Grandma Campbell and eventually became the Chief of the Lower Creek Indian Nation. He was eighty eight when he died in 1998. I would have liked to have talked to this man as I'm sure he had a lot of interesting stories to tell.

I do not know if Hank's wife Audrey ever traveled with him to Walton County during his visits. I do know that she had maintained ties within Walton County for several years after Hank's death. I base this on the fact that I remember hearing about an incident that she was involved with, back when Uncle Sam Campbell was Sheriff of Walton County. But in this incident, it did not matter to Uncle Sam who she was or who she knew! But that's another story that I will have to tell you about later! "

I believe the story my Dad is referring to in the last paragraph is about an accident Audrey had while driving drunk. Perhaps we'll get the rest of that story some time soon.