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Five Life Lessons in Violet

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About 15 years ago, my writing path took me into the life and times of an amazing woman.

I have co-authored three autobiographies, and with each one I have learned so much. Through other people’s lives and experiences, lessons pile up like cordwood near the axe stump. These lessons can sneak in through a story or a moment—through a waterfall of tears or a bucket full of sunshine and smiles.

 Randall Franks and Violet Hensley

Maybe that is why I drew so much joy out of bringing someone’s life to the page. Through the images created by the words, people may be moved to change their lives and find a new path after seeing how someone else has walked.

I met Violet after watching her electrify an audience when we were both being honored by the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum as Legends in 2010. At 94, she was much farther down that legend road than I, as I was the youngest among the honorees.

More than a year later, circumstances led me to try to convince her to tell her story in a book. So we began, week after week by phone, crafting nearly ten decades of experiences into something I hoped might inspire.

Slowly, Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ My Own Way: The Violet Hensley Story came to life, page after page.

Early in our conversations I realized her childhood days were filled with survival, but to her that was simply the way it was—you took those things in stride. That doesn’t mean there weren’t smiles and happiness, work, and even childhood games; she’s the first to tell you there were. Her childhood also gave her skills such as fiddling and fiddle-making, along with the perseverance that would serve her and make her known around the world.

Lesson One: Hard work as a child prepares you for living life.

The death of her mother struck me as a lesson I have taken to heart: despite a hardworking, caring mother being taken, one must pick up and keep going.

Lesson Two: We must keep on living for those who leave us behind.

Writing about how George “Wash” Brumley let Violet help and watch him craft fiddles showed how, simply by watching, she picked up the skill herself. Violet would go on to teach what she learned to many others.

Lesson Three: Pass on your skills to the youth. Her life was filled with raising nine children and working to give them a start in life. Along the way, her skills brought her into the public eye, where millions came to see her share her talents as an artisan and a fiddler. It made her one of the best-loved folk artists of the Ozarks.

Lesson Four: Live as Jesus taught by lovin’ your neighbors and don’t get to thinkin’ you are better than anyone else.

She left us recently at 109, with her loving family around her and the world’s media paying homage to the passing of country music’s oldest living artist.

Lesson Five: Choose a path that you love and would love for others to follow, and then stick with it.

I am glad that God let me share a bit of a walk alongside Violet. She was a unique individual, and her amazing magnetic presence first drew the eye, then the ear, and finally—once you focused on her—the heart. Once she attracted you to what she was doing, you were a fan for life.

You can get her story from her family by visiting http://VioletHensley.com.

An American Legend and the Opry – Violet Hensley

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Violet Hensley on stage at the Grand Ole Opry on Aug. 6. (Photo by Marcia Campbell/http://www.facebook.com/marciacampbellradio)

There are moments which bring people together. Common experiences such as championship wins of athletes or sporting teams, pivotal events which shape our nation or world, or iconic performances or awards highlighting those who inspire us through performance.
I was honored to be among just such a group on Aug. 6, 2016. I traveled to Nashville to see a legendary folk fiddle performer and maker Violet Hensley. I spent a couple years of my life helping Violet bring together her life story for the book “Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ My Own Way: The Violet Hensley Story.”
God Lord willing, Violet will mark her centennial as she celebrates her 50th year as Silver Dollar City’s longest serving spokesperson and folk artisan at a special event on Oct. 21 in Branson, Mo.
She has entertained countless millions both live and on television through appearances on American standards such as “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Captain Kangaroo,” “To Tell the Truth,” “Regis and Kathie Lee” and countless other shows through decades of performing.
One performance dream which she had yet to realize was an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. The show came on the air when she was 9 years old and was initially heard on a battery-powered radio in the rural Arkansas farm area of Alamo where she grew up. Now known as the Whittlin’ Fiddler from Yellville, it was another Arkansas fiddler named Tim Crouch who read of her dream in her autobiography and called Grand Ole Opry star Mike Snider. Snider then arranged for her to guest on his portion of the Grand Ole Opry.
The hit making country group Shenandoah had just left the stage as a place was prepared for her and though now her sight is limited by macular degeneration, her daughter walked her to the stool that stage hands had placed center stage near where all the country legends have performed.
As the Opry announcer passed the show back to Snider, the excitement was already building. He began an introduction, and barely got out his first few words out: “I’ve had the privilege to introduce a lot of great people on the Grand Ole Opry but it’s rare I get to introduce a National Treasure and I have one sitting hear beside me. This little lady was born in 1916…”
When the audience responded with a standing ovation that filled the Grand Ole Opry House. A wave of sound flooded the stage as the centenarian’s face beamed, as did that of her daughter Sandra and grandson Sterling who joined her musically on stage with Snider’s band. That moment broadcast across the world on wsmonline.com and on the same airways that she listened to as a girl with her fiddle playing father brought people lining the stage to tears.
She is one of America’s first nationally known female fiddlers and fiddle makers. She inspired generations of girls and boys on every imaginable children’s show from coast to coast to know they could play American music and even learn to build a fiddle if they desired. Someone who became the image of one of America’s most iconic theme parks and thus a part of the fabric of America itself.
Much like Dolly Parton is to Dollywood and Mickey Mouse is for Disney – Violet Hensley’s smile, laughter, wit and uplifting spirit, helped shape the family memories and experiences that fueled rhe Midwestern American culture. On this night America was giving something back to her – love for a century of entertaining, teaching, and encouraging, while all the struggles and hardships that went along with it.
Among the audience in the Opry house and listening were many of her descendants, but in a way, all of us whom she had touched through radio, TV and in person were her musical descendants. Had this occurred just a few years earlier, she probably would have placed the fiddle on top of her head and while she fiddled and sang “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain,: she would have danced a little jig, but tonight she selected the fiddle tune “Angeline the Baker” and seriously applied her expertise to make her Ozark forebearers proud.
She accomplished that goal and more. I think all that were touched by the moment will always remember it. Though now the focus of our attention is split between hundreds of media sources, unlike in the days when there were just a handful of clear channel radio stations like WSM or two or three local TV stations. In those days, you knew what everyone would be talking about the next morning.
This was one of those moments to talk about. If you missed it, maybe you can at least learn more about this amazing American Legend by visiting VioletHensley.com or liking “Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ My Own Way” on Facebook. There is much to learn about life from someone who lived 100 years, raising a large family while living as a farmer, migrant farm worker, and keeping the tradition of Ozark music thriving.