Introduction:
Loretta Lynn’s best friend’s daughter said of the gift, ‘It was an honor to…remember her in such a special way.’
Loretta Lynn is definitely country music royalty and as such, the Grand Ole Opry honored the late star on May 13 with performances by Martina McBride, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, Emmy Russell, Rhonda Vincent, Lynn’s younger sister Crystal Gayle and the country duo Twitty & Lynn, made up of Lynn’s granddaughter Tayla Lynn and Conway Twitty’s grandson Tre Twitty.
But on Instagram on Wednesday, June 4, one of Lynn’s six children posted a photo of a precious gift her mother gave to a very dear family friend, something that wasn’t shown on TV during the Grand Ole Opry tribute.
“There were lots of special moments about Loretta night at the Grand Ole @opry that weren’t on stage or under the lights. One of those was the dress Jennifer wore. She is the daughter of Ms. Phyllis, our Mom’s very best friend. Mom gave Jennifer this dress (some of you may recognize it!) and we were delighted to see her wearing it at the Opry! Doesn’t she look good in it?” wrote the official Instagram account.
In the comments, the aforementioned Jennifer McKinley responded, “It was an honor to wear her dress and remember her in such a special way. We love her, and the whole Lynn family is like our family. 💕.”
One fan called it “a magnificent present,” and another fan wrote, “❤️❤️❤️ your momma was precious, always a country girl at heart that literally would give you the clothes right off her back. That’s why I loved Loretta, she NEVER forget where she came from ❤️.
A third fan wrote, “She looks stunning, just like Loretta did. ❤️.”
We aren’t sure when exactly the dress is from, but the official Instagram of the Academy of Country Music posted the same photo of Lynn in a recent carousel celebrating the late Coal Miner’s Daughter and tagged it #ACMThroughtheYears, so perhaps it is from one of her early ACM performances.
Lynn passed away in 2022 at the age of 90.