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:

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.