If there ever was a time that defined Polly Copsey and her daughter, Sheri Easter, as strong Southern steel magnolias, who can endure a family crisis and emerge even stronger, then it was one terrible June day in 1984 in Lincolnton, Georgia. That was the day Elzie Allen Williamson, Polly's first husband and Sheri's father, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50.

Elzie, a hard-working, kind, soft-spoken man, had lived to see his wife of 24 years become a recording and performing legend in the world of bluegrass and gospel music as a lead vocalist for The Lewis Family. Also, he had lived to see his daughter begin performing publicly and starting her own musical journey that would lead to worldwide fame as a regular performer with her husband, Jeff Easter, on Bill Gaither's "Homecoming" gospel TV shows.

Ironically, June 12, 1984 was supposed to be a happy time as it was just a few days before Father's Day and Sheri had just finished her junior year at the University of Georgia in Athens, about an hour's drive from home.

"If anybody had told me 22 years ago that 22 years later I still would fall apart trying to talk about it, I don't know if I would have believed them," Sheri recalls. "But it affects you from that day forward and it never gets any easier. I just deal with it. Only the grace of God got me through that time," Sheri said. "I never knew that would be the news I was going to get that day. He had not been sick at all before that. There was absolutely no forewarning."

Read the Full Article in the print issue of Bluegrass Now, or call for a back issue.