Loretta Lynn Remembers Her Son Jack On What Would Have Been His 72nd Birthday
Loretta Lynn/Facebook
Loretta Lynn has suffered more than her share of heartache, including the loss of her son Jack who would have turned 72 on Wednesday (December 8).
Lynn took to Instagram Wednesday to remember Jack, saying: “Today’s my Jack’s birthday. He was born a year and 2 weeks after my Betty Sue. I was so young that we practically raised each other, but they were my life. They were a handful but we had fun. I always had one on each hip,” Lynn recalled. “I still can’t believe they’re both gone. I also can’t believe they’d be 73 and 72 years old now. I can’t even imagine Jack that old. Forever young in our minds. I don’t cry when I think of them—I smile. I sure do miss them though!”
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Jack Benny Lynn died in 1984 at the age of 34. Jack, the eldest son of Loretta and Oliver “Mooney” Lynn, died while riding a horse across a creek on his parents’ Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, farm. The coroner concluded that Jack fell from his horse while crossing the creak, hit his head, was rendered unconscious and drowned.
“Jack Benny Lynn mounted his quarter horse, Black Jack, at the 5,000-acre family ranch, Hurricane Mills, near Waverly, Tenn. He called out to a ranch hand ‘I’m goin’ ridin’,’ and went off into the hills. Sometime in the evening horse and rider tried to ford the often treacherous Duck River that bisects the Lynn spread. They never made it: On Tuesday a sheriff’s search party found the horse standing beneath a river bluff, and Jack’s body in the water nearby,” PEOPLE reported at the time.
Each year, Loretta Lynn has honored Jack on both his birthday and the anniversary of his passing. In July 2021, on the 37th anniversary of his accident, Loretta remembered Jack as “just what I asked for.”
“I’ve thought of him and missed him every day for 37 years. He was a spitting image of his daddy. He was my blond headed, blue-eyed baby. Just what I asked for,” Lynn captioned a photo of young Jack. “He was quiet and tender. I adored him with all my heart. He and Betty Sue got into everything when they were little and I was a new momma. They kept me on my toes and I’d do it all again if I could. They’re together now. Jack, I love you, honey. You still bring a smile to me every time I think of you.”
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