Loretta Lynn’s loved ones shared a heartfelt tribute to the late country music legend on what would have been her 91st birthday on Friday (April 14). It marks Lynn’s first birthday without her, after her death in October 2022. Lynn’s family announced on Twitter at that time that “our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home at her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills, [Tennessee].” She was 90.
“In our hearts, April 14th is the best day of the year,” reads a thread on Lynn’s Twitter account on Friday. “It’s the day she was born. Little did Ted and Clara Webb, deep in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, know that their new daughter would become the world’s most awarded woman in the history of country music.
“We can’t imagine a day on the calendar doing anything better than giving us Loretta Lynn. Yet this year, this birthday is surreal. It’s the first to come without her. One year ago today we gathered up in her living room for her 90th. We ate, we laughed, and we sang.
“She always sang. It was a perfect day because she was here and we were with her. Today, we won’t circle up at her house and gather around her. We won’t spend the day watching the flowers flow in and the phone ring like crazy with best wishes.
“We won’t argue with her about her real age! Instead, we will hold her a little closer in our hearts, we will sing a song that makes us think of her, we will probably cry a little for this additional reminder reinforcing to us the painful reality we can still hardly believe.
“And we will smile—thanking God for the little girl from the holler and the spring day that brought her to us.”
Lynn’s birthday will be celebrated with her fifth annual birthday bash on Saturday (April 15) at the Troubadour Nashville. Twitty and Lynn — the duo of Tre Twitty and Tayla Lynn, grandchildren of the iconic duo of Conway Twitty and Lynn — will headline the event. Emmy Russell, another of Lynn’s grandchildren, will also make her Grand Ole Opry debut performance on Saturday in honor of her grandmother’s birthday. Russell’s sister, Crystal Gayle, is also set to take the stage. Lynn’s family previously tweeted a link from her account to watch the Opry performance. Tayla recently told PEOPLE that she’ll “do the best I can to bring her spirit there.”