Adrianne "Teetsie" Richardson - Widow of The Big Bopper
cugina
Richardson is a spittin' look-alike of his father, The Big Bopper, right
down to the rotund stature and crew cut. To see his act you'd think you
were watching the Big Bopper himself.
in article EjVLb.2911$zj7....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net, Rob Petrie
at r*@att.net wrote on 1/10/04 9:59 AM:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> "LadyMovieFan" <mov...@theater.ggg> wrote in message
> news:movies-95E1E0....@news.newsguy.com...
>> Obit at web site includes picture of ""Teetsie"
>
>> http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10779618&BRD=2287&
>> PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=8
>
>
> The article did not say how old she was, either.
>
>
> "Oh, baby, that's-a what I like!"
> --J(iles) P(erry) Richardson, 28
> (Oct. 24, 1930 Sabine Pass, TX - Feb. 3, 1959 Clear Lake, IA)
>
>
>> or
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/35ft
>>
>> -------------------------
>>
>> Friends, Family Remember The Bopper's Widow
>>
>> BEAUMONT - If people can die of a broken heart, Adrianne "Teetsie"
>> Richardson Wenner did, her son Jay Richardson said from his home in
>> Houston Thursday after learning of her death Wednesday, January 7, 2004.
>>
>> The woman, brushed by fame when her young husband, J.P. Richardson,
>> known as "The Big Bopper," was killed in an airplane accident in 1959
>> shortly after being catapulted to celebrity in the music world, never
>> really stopped mourning, her son said.
>>
>> The Big Bopper started his career as a Beaumont radio disc jockey. In
>> addition to writing George Jones' hit "White Lightnin'," he also scored
>> a huge national hit single with his own smash "Chantilly Lace."
>>
>> His widow's death came almost to the very day 52 years ago she met
>> Richardson, when visiting in Beaumont. It was a meeting that impacted
>> her life forever more, Richardson said.
>>
>> "Her sister was pregnant, and my mother was sent to Beaumont to help
>> her. Mother heard him on the (local) radio. It so happened my uncle knew
>> someone at the radio station and called him up, and then invited (the
>> Bopper) over for dinner. That was January 1952, and they were married in
>> April."
>>
>> Teetsie and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson were making their home on
>> Detroit Street in Port Arthur in 1959 when the news came that he had
>> died in a plane crash transporting him and two other rockers - Buddy
>> Holly and Ritchie Valens - from one concert to another.
>>
>> Richardson said his mother made a lot of friends in Beaumont throughout
>> her life.
>>
>> "She fed the town, whenever there was a gathering place, a big event, we
>> hosted anything that was going on," he said. And many people have tasted
>> Wenner's Cajun cooking.
>>
>> "A lot of people have had mama's cooking. I'm expecting a big turnout
>> (at her funeral) because she touched the lives of a lot of people,"
>> Richardson said.
>>
>> Wenner died at her Beaumont home, and at this writing the cause of death
>> was not published, but Richardson said although "she had a good time"
>> and "was a very colorful person," he believed that his father's untimely
>> death overshadowed everything in her life.
>>
>> "The anniversaries, certain times of the year, every year, were just
>> very, very difficult for her," he said. "I don't know what the coroner
>> is going to say, but I know she died of a broken heart, whatever else
>> people tell me."
>>
>> Jay Richardson has a sister Debra Joy, and half-siblings from his
>> mother's second marriage to Andrew Wenner - Joseph, Jerry, James and
>> Denise Henke Wenner.
>>
>> "She was just an all-American mom, and a great Cajun cook," Joseph
>> Wenner said while arrangements were being made at Broussard's Thursday
>> for her funeral.
>>
>> Richardson would eventually wend his way into the entertainment world,
>> at age 37, to form a "Big Bopper Jr." act, that he brought to Beaumont
>> in November in a tribute to his father, Holly, and Valens, the trio
>> killed while on their Winter Dance Party Tour in '59.
>>
>> Was Teetsie influential in his decision?
>>
>> "She was instrumental in my not doing it until I was 37 years old,"
>> Richardson said, "because mother never wanted me in the business, that
>> she felt took Dad from her. But once I did, she embraced it."
>>
>> Pat Galloway, longtime friend and neighbor of Teetsie Wenner, said she
>> had spoken with Wenner when the two were attending her son's performance
>> in Beaumont in November.
>>
>> "That's one fine lady, and I'm gonna miss her very much," Galloway said.
>> "She loved her kids; she loved her grandchildren. She was so down to
>> earth, never negative, and spunky, and always told you the truth. That's
>> why I loved her. One of those types of friends everyone wishes they
>> had."
>>
>> Visitation will be at Broussard's Chapel on McFaddin Friday at 6 p.m.;
>> services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at St. Anthony Cathedral, and
>> burial will be at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
>
>
cugina
in article rmWLb.2970$zj7...@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net, Rob Petrie
at r*@att.net wrote on 1/10/04 11:10 AM:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> "cugina" <lamogl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:BC25807B.24589%lamogl...@yahoo.com...
>
>> I got to meet and see the Big Bopper in concert in August 1958. Jay
>> Richardson is a spittin' look-alike of his father, The Big Bopper, right
>> down to the rotund stature and crew cut. To see his act you'd think you
>> were watching the Big Bopper himself.
>
> You must be at least 60 today to have seen TBB in '58!
> Beats me by a few years, at the least.
Bob Campbell
>The Big Bopper started his career as a Beaumont radio disc jockey. In
>addition to writing George Jones' hit "White Lightnin'," he also scored
>a huge national hit single with his own smash "Chantilly Lace."
He also wrote "Running Bear", a hit for Johnny Preston.
I think he also did the background vocal effects.