I grew up with Jim Reeves music. At the old home place, his music was played quite regularly.

By the time I became accustomed to his songs at the age of three, he was dead. He had died in a plane crash.

I grew even closer to his music as the hits kept coming after his death. Song after song being released from his recordings would have Jim Reeves charting years after the fatal plane crash.

On July 31, 1964, Reeves and his business partner and manager Dean Manuel were flying back to Nashville in a single engine plane with Reeves at the controls when they were caught in a violent storm and the plane went down at Brentwood, Tennessee.

The search for the wreckage would last 42 hours. On the morning of August 2, 1964, after an intense search by several parties, the bodies were found. At 1:00 p.m. local time, radio stations across the United States began to announce Reeves' death formally.

Reeves was elected posthumously to the Country Music Hall of Fame during 1967, which honored him by saying,

The velvet style of 'Gentleman Jim Reeves' was an international influence. His rich voice brought millions of new fans to country music from every corner of the world. Although the crash of his private airplane took his life, posterity will keep his name alive because they will remember him as one of country music's most important performers.

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