She knew her time on earth was short. When you think of the legends of country music, Patsy Cline has to be close to the top of the list. With classics like “Crazy” (which was written by Willie Nelson), “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “I Fall to Pieces” still being played today, Patsy blazed a trail for women in country music maybe more than any other artist in history. Unfortunately, her life and career were tragically cut short when she was killed in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, alongside Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and her pilot Randy Hughes, who was also Patsy’s manager and the son-in-law of Copas. Patsy was at the height of her fame, and only 30 years old at the time of her death. But despite being in her prime, Patsy somehow knew that her time here was coming to an end. When she was only 13 years old, Patsy suffered from a severe case of rheumatic fever that left her hospitalized and near death – but which she also credited with her signature voice. As Patsy recalled during a 1957 interview: “I developed a terrible throat infection and my heart even stopped beating. The doctor put me in an oxygen tent. You might say it was my return to the living after several days that launched me as a singer. The fever affected my throat and when I recovered, I had this booming voice.” Then in June 1961, Patsy and her brother Sam Hensley Jr. were involved in a serious accident in Nashville when their vehicle was struck head-on by another car. Two of the three passengers in the other car were killed, and Cline suffered a broken wrist, a dislocated hip, and a cut on her forehead that barely missed her eyes. Cline’s injuries were life-threatening, and she wasn’t expected to survive when she made it to the hospital. But after undergoing surgery, she woke up and told her husband that Jesus had saved her: “He took my hand and told me, ‘No, not now. I have other things for you to do.'” Following her two near-death experiences, Cline had reportedly began experiencing more frequent premonitions of her demise. According to the book Johnny Cash: The Life of An American Icon by Stephen Miller, Patsy had confided in June Carter Cash that she believed she would die young – and even left written instructions with June about her wishes for her children after her death. “Patsy confided in June her belief that she would die young and even wrote out some instructions she wished to be carried out after her death. In all too short a time, June had to visit Patsy’s family to pass on this information.” It wasn’t the only time Patsy had hastily written out her wishes for after her passing: Back in April 1961, while flying to a performance, she had hastily written a will on a piece of Delta Airlines stationary that she had requested from a flight attendant. The will covered the distribution of her assets, her wishes for care of her children, and even the clothes she wanted to be buried in. Unfortunately, the will didn’t meet the necessary legal requirements, so despite its instructions to leave her assets to her mother, her estate was ultimately left to her husband Charlie Dick – despite their turbulent marriage, and letters from shortly before her death that indicated she planned to ask Dick for a divorce. Loretta Lynn also recalled Patsy becoming “frantic” in the weeks before her death. As the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer wrote in her memoir Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust: My Friendship with Patsy Cline, Patsy often had a sense of impending doom, and while she was always generous with giving away her possessions, began to do so much more frequently as if she were preparing for her death. Days before the plane crash, Patsy even made a haunting comment to Ray Walker, a member of her backing group The Jordanaires, when he wished her safe travels: “Honey, I’ve had two bad ones. The third one will either be a charm or it’ll kill me.” And Patsy might not have been the only one who sensed something ominous: On the night of the fatal plane crash, fellow country singer Dottie West had tried to convince Patsy to drive home rather than take the ill-fated flight, but the “Crazy” singer was eager to get home to her children: “Don’t worry about me, Hoss. When it’s my time to go, it’s my time.” Unfortunately, it did in fact end up being her time just hours later, cutting all too short an already-legendary life and country music career. It’s a little eerie how seemingly convinced Patsy was of her impending death, but it also shows that she had perhaps accepted her fate and made peace with the possibility of an untimely death. Either way, what a loss it was for country music. The post “It’s My Time” – Inside Patsy Cline’s Haunting Premonitions Of Her Own Impending Death first appeared on Whiskey Riff.