Jess Nobert
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Not many students have ever seen a celebrity, but APSU sophomore Andrew Fudge is the grandson of one.Fudge, as his friends call him, is the grandson of Patsy Cline.When people find out, he usually hears, “That’s awesome. Who is that again?” or, “You’re kidding me, I don’t believe you.” And he even gets a few, “That’s awesome, can we go and hang out at her house sometime?”His typical response is, “She was a country singer,” “You should look her up,” “How can I prove it to you?” or, of course, “Um, she died in 1963.”Fudge is pretty modest about being a celebrity grandson. “I don’t consider our family to be boastful about the fact that we are related to Pasty Cline, but anytime there is a possibility to meet someone famous, like any country music singer, we try to use that to our advantage.”Though his grandfather doesn’t talk of Cline often, Fudge does have a few favorite memories he has shared. “My favorite stories that he has told me are about how he and Willie Nelson, who wrote ‘Crazy,’ would hang out and were drinking buddies,” Fudge said.“And there are the stories about when they went on tour with Johnny Cash and all the crazy shenanigans they would pull at hotels.”“I love when I talk about my grandmother and call her Virginia Patterson Hensley, because most people don’t know that’s her real name; Patsy Cline was just a stage name,” Fudge said.“While singing isn’t a talent that was passed down the genes,” Fudge said, “I do play the drums.”He has been playing for seven years, and plays most Sundays at his church.Fudge admits he’s not sure he would be at APSU, or even born if his grandmother hadn’t been on the plane that crashed in 1963. But if they were both here, “I know that she would have made many more amazing albums and that my family’s life would be a lot more hectic than it is today.”He puts it, “God had a plan for her to die, and it led to where me and my family are today.”Fudge, who is a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, still isn’t sure what he wants to do after he graduates.“The past few years, I have gone back and forth with the possibility of going to seminary and doing something in the ministry field,” Fudge said, “or getting a degree in music and playing drums for a living in a music studio or band.”“The main goal I have right now is to be the first in my family to get a college degree.”“I think it’s really sunk in, now that I’m older, about how big she was.”Fudge said, “My family all went to the opening night of ‘Always Patsy Cline’ at the Ryman Auditorium. We got free tickets, being family and all, and it was pretty much like regular tickets.”“We sat up in the balcony in the middle of the auditorium just as if we bought the tickets at the door. No one really knows, without asking, that we are her family, so I felt like I was just going to a regular play,” he said.“But sitting there and hearing the girl playing my grandmother start to sing her songs, and everyone in the Ryman cheering, just because they love Patsy¹s songs, really makes me realize how big she was and how much people love her music,” Fudge said.Fudge said his favorite experience he has been a part of “was when Patsy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. My whole family went to Hollywood and spent a week out there about a block from the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and had a great time.”“I also love the fact that even though she is well known by millions, her songs are played on shows like ‘Lost,’ and in movies, like ‘The Departed.’I still live a normal life and am not constantly bombarded with reporters like most celebrities are today,” he said.“Growing up I don’t think I actually knew how big of a deal Patsy Cline really was. I just remember thinking of her just as Grandma Patsy.”“It’s also cool to have your grandmother on a U.S. postal stamp,” Fudge said.
Comments
2 comments
Eric P
Thu Apr 30 2009 17:15
Is this for real? I mean, really? I am way too gullable. Is this serious? Please tell me.
-EAP-
Comments
2 comments
Eric P
Thu Apr 30 2009 17:15
Is this for real? I mean, really? I am way too gullable. Is this serious? Please tell me.
-EAP-
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