Hank Williams

AKA:
Luke the Drifter
Birth Name:
Hiram Williams
Birth Date:
November 17, 1923
Birth Place:
Mount Olive, Alabama
Death Date:
January 1, 1953
Place of Death:
Pure Oil Gas Station, 6329 Legends Highway, Hilltop, West Virginia
Age:
29
Cause of Death:
Heart failure caused by drug and alcohol abuse
Cemetery Name:
Oakwood Cemetery Annex
Claim to Fame:
Music
American Country singer, songwriter, and musician. Hank Williams was one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Some of his best hits include "Move It on Over", "Lovesick Blues", "Your Cheatin' Heart", and "Hey, Good Lookin'". Artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, and the Rolling Stones have been influenced by his work. Often described as being fiercely driven, drug-addicted and stubbornly drunk, Hank Williams was none-the-less the finest songwriter and song stylist of the twentieth century.

In the End …

Just before sunrise on New Year’s Day in 1953, a sleek baby-blue Cadillac roared up to the rural Oak Hill, West Virginia hospital in the cold Appalachian darkness. The driver was just 17, exhausted and scared. The passenger was barely 29 and dead.

At the wheel was Charles Carr, a college freshman on Christmas break from Auburn. The man in the back seat was singer-songwriter Hank Williams.

“I ran in and explained my situation to the two interns who were in the hospital, ” said Carr, now a retired Montgomery businessman. “They came out and looked at Hank and said, ‘He’s dead.’

“I asked ’em, ‘Can’t you do something to revive him?’ One of them looked at me and said, ‘No, he’s just dead.’ “

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Oakwood Cemetery Annex

1304 Upper Wetumpka Road

Montgomery, Alabama, 36107

USA

North America

Grave Location Description

Hank is buried in the new section of Oakwood Cemetery on the far eastern edge of Oakwood Cemetery Annex, which is on the northeastern edge of the city. Look for the granite Hank Williams sign on the north side of Upper Wetumpka Road just west of Vorona Street. Drive into the cemetery and bear right at the top of the hill. You’ll soon see the twin vertical monuments of Hank and his ex-wife on the left.

Grave Location GPS

32.38560273357, -86.2909789447

Visiting The Grave:

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

Read More About Hank Williams:

Videos Featuring Hank Williams:

See More:

Booker Little Jr.

popular name: Booker Little Jr.

date_of_death: October 5, 1961

age: 23

cause_of_death: Complications from uremia caused by kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Booker Little, twenty-three year-old composer, arranger and trumpet player has lately come to demonstrate, in recordings and as the musical director of the Max Roach group, a talent that was taken too early. When he died suddenly at the age of 23 he was one of the most promising jazz trumpeters working with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. After years of physical pain, Little died of complications resulting from kidney failure on October 5, 1961, in New York City at the age 23. He was survived by his wife, two sons Booker T. III and Larry Cornelius, and two daughters Cornelia and Ana Dorsey.

Furry Lewis

popular name: Furry Lewis

date_of_death: September 14, 1981

age: 88

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A notable guitarist in both the bottleneck and finger-picking styles, Furry was a country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee whose greatest productivity came late in life during the folk blues revival of the 1960s.

Albert King

popular name: Albert King

date_of_death: December 21, 1992

age: 69

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Standing at six-foot-four, 300-pounds King was able to bend notes farther and more powerfully than almost any other guitarist, and his records influenced a generation bluesman from Eric Clapton to Duane Allman and, of course, Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Back to Top