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 Holabird AdvocateProviding all the news we see fit to print since 2002!Friday, May 16, 2003 VOL. II Issue 5H MAN IN BLACK MOURNS WIFE June Carter Cash cowrote "Ring of Fire," then she helped Johnny Cash escape it. The last surviving sibling of country music's influential Carter Family who tamed the Man in Black and penned one of his biggest hits, died Thursday, eight days after surgery to replace a heart valve. She was 73. Johnny Cash, her husband of 35 years, was at her bedside at Nashville's Baptist Hospital, manager Lou Robin told reporters. Carter Cash underwent valve surgery May 7. She became critically ill Saturday, and returned to the hospital, prompting Cash to ask their fans to pray for her health. "June did this for him one time when he was critically ill," Robin said in a statement last weekend. "The recovery the next morning was something the doctors couldn't describe or imagine." Indeed, Cash, 71, has bounced back from a variety of ailments in recent years, and continues to cope with Shy-Drager Syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system. But for Carter Cash there would be no dramatic recovery. In the late 1990s, Carter Cash endured the deaths of sisters Anita and Helen, who with mother Maybelle Carter, constituted the Carter Family lineup in the 1940s and 1950s. Mother Maybelle Carter died in 1978. June carter Cash was born into the musical clan on June 23, 1929, in Virginia. She and the reformed Carter Family made it to the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, where a high-schooler by the name of Johnny Cash caught the act. Six years later, one account goes, Cash, having since become a performer in his own right, met the then June Carter in person and vowed to make her his bride. But before Carter would become Carter Cash, she married and divorced two others: singer Carl Smith, a union that produced future country star Carlene Carter and, Rip Nix. Carter Cash hooked up with Cash, professionally, at least, in 1961, when she joined his touring act, following a foray into the New York acting scene. By the early 1960s, Cash was battling the demons of drink and drugs, a veritable "Ring of Fire." "I fell into a burning ring of fire/I went down, down, down/and the flames went higher," went the chorus for Cash's signature 1963 hit. The tune was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. It was said to be inspired by June Carter's feelings about falling for the troubled Cash. Cash was always the first to credit Carter Cash with pulling him up from the pit. "She may have been the person responsible for my still being alive," Cash told the Academy of Achievement in 1993. "She and God." The Man in Black and the Carter Family scion merged in 1968. Their union was blessed with more hits, including the Grammy-winning duets "If I Were a Carpenter" and "Jackson," and the TV variety shows The Johnny Cash Show (1969-71) and Johnny Cash and Friends (1976). Together, they also had a child, son John Carter Cash, in 1970 In recent years, she returned to acting, appearing in the 1997 Robert Duvall (news) movie, The Apostle, as well as a few episodes of family friend Jane Seymour's TV series "Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman" along with her husband. HAROLD HINKLE MAKES QUICK TRIP TO PIERRE The lack of a boat battery sent Harold Hinkle to Pierre in a hurry this afternoon. He, Professor Ken Hansen and whoever else they can con into going along will be taking advantage of the free fishing weekend. All people interested in going along be sure to call Harold by 10:30pm Holabird time tonight for the itinerary. SOUTH DAKOTA SONGBOOK "MAN IN BLACK" (Johnny Cash) « © '71 House Of Cash » Well you wonder why I always dress in black Why you never see bright colors on my back And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone Well there's a reason for the things that I have on I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down Livin' in the hopeless hungry side of town I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime But is there because he's a victim of the times I wear the black for those who've never read Or listened to the words that Jesus said About the road to happiness through love and charity Why you'd think he's talking straight to you and me Well we're doin' mighty fine I do suppose In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back Up front there oughta be a man in black I wear it for the sick and lonely old For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold I wear the black in morning for the lives that could have been Each week we lose a hundred fine young men And I wear it for the thousands who have died Believin' that the Lord was on their side I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died Believin' that we all were on their side Well there's things that never will be right I know And things need changin' everywhere you go But till we start to make a move to make a few things right You'll never see me wear a suit of white Oh I'd love to wear a rainbow every day and tell the world that everything's okay But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back Till things're brighter I'm the man in black.
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