On the night of June 4, 1993, Conway Twitty finished a show in Branson, Missouri, and boarded his tour bus for Hendersonville, Tennessee. Waiting at the end of that drive was Twitty City, the home and attraction he had built so the people he loved could live right beside him. He never made it back.
He collapsed on the bus that night and died the next morning in a Missouri hospital. And in one of the strangest twists of that long night, his old duet partner Loretta Lynn happened to be in the very same building.
The Place He Built
Conway Twitty opened Twitty City in 1982 at a cost of about $3.5 million. The nine-acre complex in Hendersonville was part tourist attraction and part family compound. Visitors came for the museum, the gift shop, the auditorium and the holiday festivities. In 1986, his colonial-style mansion was even featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
But the heart of it was family. Conway Twitty built homes on the property for his mother and for his children. After decades on the road, from rockabilly stages in the 1950s to country’s biggest arenas, he had created a place where his family could stay close. His son Jimmy Jenkins later described it simply as a Hendersonville landmark that was also home for their family.
The Last Show in Branson
By 1993, Conway Twitty was still one of the biggest stars in country music. At the time, he had more No. 1 singles than any other artist in the genre. That June he was working in Branson, the Missouri town that had become a home away from home for many country legends.
Mel Tillis later said that Conway Twitty and his wife had come to his Branson theater on Thursday night. On Friday, June 4, Conway took the stage at the Jim Stafford Theatre. After the show, he boarded his bus, heading home to Hendersonville.
A Rest Stop in Southwest Missouri
According to the Associated Press, Conway Twitty collapsed on his tour bus during a rest stop in southwest Missouri. He was in terrible pain. He was rushed to Cox South Hospital in Springfield, where doctors found a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, a tear in the body’s main artery. They took him into emergency surgery.
Loretta Lynn in the Same Hospital
What happened next sounds almost too unlikely to be true, but it was reported at the time. Loretta Lynn was already at that hospital. Her husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, was recovering there from open-heart surgery.
Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn had made some of the most loved duets in country music history, from “After the Fire Is Gone” to “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.” Now, entirely by chance, she was down the hall on the worst night of his life. She was able to see her friend briefly. Then she stayed with his wife, Dee, through the night, waiting for news from the operating room.
Years later, Loretta Lynn remembered that day in a social media post, writing that she and Doo were heartbroken and that she still missed him.
June 5, 1993
Conway Twitty died in the early morning hours of June 5, 1993. He was 59 years old. He was laid to rest at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee, under his birth name, Harold Jenkins.
The man who had sung for fans across America for nearly four decades had been only a few hundred miles from the home he loved.
What Happened to Twitty City
The sadness did not end with the funeral. After Conway Twitty’s death, ownership of Twitty City became part of a bitter legal fight between his four children and his widow. His children went to court hoping to keep living in the houses their father had built for them on the property.
In the end, a probate judge ordered the property and his belongings sold at auction. His children had to leave their homes, and personal items were sold off. In 1994, Trinity Broadcasting Network bought the complex and renamed it Trinity Music City.
Conway Twitty built a place where his family would never be scattered. He spent his last night trying to get back to it, and within about a year, it was no longer theirs.
Where were you when you heard that Conway Twitty had died? We would love to hear your memories.