Lynn Anderson's triumphs, talent remembered at funeral

As she addressed the friends, family and loved ones of Lynn Anderson in Nashville on Wednesday, Brenda Lee listed off just a few of the late country music star’s accomplishments.

She was the first female country singer to sell out Madison Square Garden. She was once named female vocalist of the year by the Country Music Association, and she performed for President Jimmy Carter on the stage of the historic Ford’s Theatre.

But Anderson’s favorite honor was her “Grammy recognition,” Lee explained.

“Grammy was the hip name chosen by the grandchildren in honor of the grandmother that they loved,” she said, and the congregation quietly chuckled. “No rocking chairs or images of knitting in Lynn's world.”

Anderson’s funeral was a tribute to her personal triumphs as well as her professional ones. The singer, who died July 30 at age 67, was best known for her 1970 country-pop hit “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden.” Her son, Gray Stream, said his family had heard and read a lot about her accomplishments in recent days – the sorts of things he’d never hear firsthand from his mother.

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“It's a great reminder for us to read things like, ‘First ever,’ ‘Best in the world,’” he said. “A lot of family, fathers and children don't get to read that about their mothers, their daughters, their loved ones. ... If we ever heard about it, it was from others. She was trying to be a good person. She was trying to be a good mother, and a good daughter, and never ever would go without telling us how proud of us she was.”

As the brother of her longtime partner Mentor Williams, songwriting great Paul Williams considered himself Anderson’s “brother out-law.” He noted that he and Anderson "wrestled some of the same bears."

“I know how she struggled. And I know how she triumphed. And there is wisdom in the wound, and Lynn, you shared that wisdom. People will never know the times you walked into a corner with somebody who was suffering, and didn't know what they were going to do to get themselves back into the light and out of the darkness. I watched you walk into a corner, grab that person's hand and say, 'Baby, it's gonna be all right.’”

Music was also part of Wednesday’s service. There was an acoustic rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and the service ended with a performance of “Drift Away (Gospel Version).” The song was a revision of Mentor Williams’ composition “Drift Away,” one that Anderson had recorded on her final album, “Bridges.”

Anderson sang that song on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in June. Lee recalled that it was the last time she got to speak with her. She said Anderson was dressed in all white, and looked “radiant.”

"I will be forever grateful that I got to be among the first to tell her, 'Lynn, you look like an angel.'"