Loretta Lynn's First Grandchild Dies at 59

Lynn Massey died after 'long health battle,' family says
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2024 2:30 AM CDT
Loretta Lynn's First Grandchild Dies at 59
Loretta Lynn performs during the Americana Music Honors and Awards show Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.   (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

Loretta Lynn's first grandchild died Tuesday at age 59, the family of the country music icon announced last week. Lynn Massey, daughter of Lynn's eldest daughter Betty Sue, died "after a long and difficult health battle," read a family statement posted to social media. "Our family is so grateful for the prayers and love continually shown to us." Massey was just 11 months younger than her youngest aunts, Lynn's twins Peggy and Patsy, USA Today reports. Massey's mother died in 2013, at age 64, of complications from emphysema, People reports.

Lynn married at 15 and had her first child at age 16; she already had four of her six children when she launched her music career in the 1960s. She ultimately had 26 grandchildren, another one of whom—grandson Jeffrey Allen Lynn—died in 2016 at age 47. His father, Jack Benny Lynn, died in a drowning in 1984 at age 34, People reported at the time of his son's death. (Another one of Lynn's granddaughters competed on American Idol.)

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