The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 22

and 1, 3, irons and 0-10 5 JA 6B Wednesday, December 22, 1999 THE TENNESSEAN www.tennessean.com Emphysema claims longtime Opry balladeer Marion Worth at 64 THE The BIGGER The BETTER SPORTS AUTHORITY Last Minute Always priced right. Hard to Hide Gifts Save Save 100 on Select BACKBOARDS Sample Savings: Now Only Reg. 99.99 HUFFY 44" Zero Gravity Portable Backboard Adjustable 3 piece telescoping pole, adjusts from to 7.5° 10', larger base for stability, Quick safety net release system. Save on Select 100 SKI SNOWBOARD Packages Sample Savings: Now Only 000 Orig. 229.98 LAMAR KJ Lite Freestyle Snowboard ckage Lamar les Kevin Jones snowboard Lamar SX10 bindings.

Save up to Shepard, a longtime friend and fellow Opry member, said Monday. "She had a soft, melodic voice that was so sweet and so good." Ms. Worth joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1963, the same year she recorded one of her bestknown hits, Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry). She first reached the national country charts in 1959 with Are You Willing, which peaked at No. 12 DEATHS in Billboard magazine.

She added four more Top 20 singles in the next four years, including two Top 10 releases: That's My Kind of Love and I Think I Know. She also recorded Slipping Around, a 1964 duet with the late George Morgan. One of five children of a railroader, Ms. Worth learned piano from her father but later turned to the guitar. She attended business college but went into medical training, in- LOCAL NEWS By TOM ROLAND Staff Writer Marion Worth, 64, a ballad singer who performed on the Grand Ole Opry for about 20 years, died Sunday at Tennessee Christian Medical Center in Madison after a lengthy battle with emphysema.

Marion Worth was actually the stage name of Mary Ann Ward Wilson, born in Birmingham, on July 4, 1935. She was "a Patti Page of the music industry," Jean PATRIO7 Sports Authority PROMISE FREE tending to become a nurse. Then she landed a job as a bookkeeper for a recording company, according to the Grand Ole Opry PictureHistory Book. The 5-foot-2 singer and her sister, Dean Ward, won first place in a talent contest in their hometown, encouraging her to put her energies into show business. After working at WVOK in Birmingham, she landed a series of jobs, which eventually put her on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

200 on Select TREADMILLS Sample Savings: Now Only 199 Orig. 499.99 PROFORM 485 EX Treadmill Displays speed, time, distance, total calories and fat calories burned, incline, MPH, folds for easy storage. Save $50 Ms. Worth was among the first country music performers to appear on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Her sultry love ballads were endearing to audiences of all genres.

"She came along not too long after me and Kitty and Rose Maddox," Shepard said. "She came out about the same time as Jan Howard and Wanda Jackson and helped pave the way for some of these other youngsters." Ms. Worth voluntarily left the Opry during the 1980s, Shepard on Select BIKES Sample Savings: Now Only Assembly 30 day Tune- up Orig. 149.99 HUFFY Boys' Striker 20" BMX Bicycle Front alloy sidepull brakes, rear caliper v-type brakes, 36 spoke alloy rims, racing saddle. Save 50-100 on Select TABLE GAMES Sample Savings: HARVARD Now Only Select Soccer Table 169 199 Orig.

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Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Madison Funeral Home. Family visitation will be 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. today.

Survivors include a daughter, Joyce Laughlin, Fairview; two brothers, Jerry Ward, Selma, and Jesse Ward, Destin, two grandchildren, Stacey Hoskins and Larry Scott Laughlin, both Fairview; two Sundquist says TennCare stable Associated Press Gov. Don Sundquist has taped a public service announcement reassuring persons covered by TennCare insurance that their coverage will continue despite the loss of TennCare's biggest insurance carrier. "More than 1.3 million of our fellow Tennesseans depend on TennCare for their health care, and we're not going to let them down, especially during the holiday season," Sundquist says during the radio spot. BlueCross BlueShield officials announced plans last week to drop out of the TennCare program in six months. They said the program was costing the company too much money.

The insurer handles coverage of about 645,000 people, or about half of those on TennCare. The state is seeking new insurance carriers to replace BlueCross BlueShield, said John F. Tighe, acting TennCare director. The administration is "absolutely committed to this program," Tighe said yesterday. I BIG DIAMONDS Little Prices OPPOSE Save 50-300 on Select GOLF SETS Sample Savings: Orig.

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