Editing Conway Twitty (section)

==Personal life==
Twitty was married four times, to three different women. His first marriage, to Ellen Matthews, lasted from 1953 to 1954. They had married because Ellen was pregnant with their son, Michael. His second, and longest, marriage was to Temple "Mickey" Medley. They were married in 1956 and had three children: Kathy, Joni Lee, and Jimmy Twitty. The couple were divorced in early 1970, but they remarried quietly by the end of 1970. By 1984, after 28 years of marriage on and off, the stress of Twitty's frequent absences took its toll on Mickey, and she and Conway divorced. Mickey Twitty died in 2021. In 1987, Twitty married his 36-year-old office secretary, Delores "Dee" Henry, who became his widow in June 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=June 6, 1993 |title=Conway Twitty, 59, Dies on Tour; Country Star Had 50 No. 1 Songs |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/obituaries/conway-twitty-59-dies-on-tour-country-star-had-50-no-1-songs.html |access-date=2021-11-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Twitty made [[Oklahoma City]] his home during most of his recording career, from 1963 to 1972. He also lived in Norman, Oklahoma. Twitty performed at the [[Diamond Ballroom]] after its opening in 1964. Conway Twitty opened one of his Twitty Burger restaurants at 7200 S. Western Avenue in Oklahoma City.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tramel |first=Jimmie |title=Jimmie Tramel: Conway Twitty's Oklahoma Years Put Kelly Lang on Path for Music Career |url=https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/music/jimmie-tramel-conway-twittys-oklahoma-years-put-kelly-lang-on-path-for-music-career/article_8d58b134-4527-5a2b-ab10-13e8669dfa60.html |access-date=2021-11-09 |website=[[Tulsa World]] |date=August 10, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1981, Twitty was exiting his tour bus when he slipped on the steps and fell, hitting his head against the steps. [[John Hughey]], who was Twitty's steel guitar player, found him on the ground. Many people, including family members, said that Twitty underwent a change in personality after the accident.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Twitty served on the board of directors of [[CMT (American TV channel)|CMT]] (Country Music Television) from 1984 to 1988, after Music Village Group (Nyhl Henson, Gilbert Biggers, Hall Hardaway Jr. and Benny and Dean Jaggers) acquired CMTV from Glen Daniels. (Inheriting a copyright infringement suit from Viacom, owner of MTV, settled for an undisclosed sum.) The Music Village Group, built Music Village USA adjacent to Twitty City including a state-of-the-art 1,776-seat theatre where CMT uplinked its 24-hour programming and produced live concerts. When Music Village and Twitty was sold in 1989 and CMT in 1990, Conway turned his attention to the burgeoning [[Branson, Missouri|Branson]] market playing to sell-out crowds. Twitty teamed up again with Nyhl Henson and his team to anchor the new musical home of Conway Twitty and inked the deal the day before his death in June 1993.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

===Death===
On June 4, 1993, Twitty became ill while performing at the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Dick |date=20 May 2017 |title=Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to Feature Conway Twitty [VIDEOS] |language=en |work=98.1 - Minnesota's New Country |url=https://minnesotasnewcountry.com/sunday-morning-country-classic-spotlight-to-feature-conway-twitty-videos/ |access-date=30 June 2021}}</ref> He collapsed on his tour bus after the show and was rushed to a hospital. He was rushed into surgery, but died of an [[abdominal aortic aneurysm]], in the early hours of the following morning at Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 59.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/06/06/country-music-star-conway-twitty-dies/566eee81-727c-4529-a7c9-7f4611778cca/|title=COUNTRY MUSIC STAR CONWAY TWITTY DIES|newspaper=Washington Post|date=June 6, 1993}}</ref> [[Loretta Lynn]], who frequently was his chart-making duet partner, was at the hospital because her husband, Mooney, a.k.a. Doo, was recovering from heart surgery, and saw Twitty briefly as he entered the hospital.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grigsby |first=Karen |date=5 June 2018 |title=Conway Twitty died 25 years ago today: How his legacy lives on |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/06/05/conway-twitty-death-25-years-country-music-cma-fest/656278002/ |access-date=30 June 2021}}</ref> His last studio album, ''[[Final Touches]]'', was released two months later. Four months after Twitty's death, [[George Jones]] included a cover version of "[[Hello Darlin' (song)|Hello Darlin']]" on his album ''[[High-Tech Redneck]]''.

Twitty was buried at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee, in a red granite vault under his birth name Harold L. Jenkins. There are spaces reserved next to him for his wife and his son Michael.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite court |litigants=In re Estate of Jenkins |vol=No. 93P-30 |court=Probate Court for Sumner County, Tom E. Gray, Judge |date=2005 |url= |access-date= |quote= |postscript= }}</ref>

===Estate lawsuits===
After Twitty's death, his estate became entangled in a lengthy court saga between the estate and family members, heirs, employees and others that lasted over a decade.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite news |title=Conway Twitty Family Feuds Over Estate |language=en |work=AP NEWS |url=https://apnews.com/article/a11e11ebb7510490e824971183060db2 |access-date=1 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Squabbles Between Conway Twitty's Heirs Highlight the Importance of a Properly Updated Estate Plan {{!}} McMullan & Brown {{!}} Little Rock, Arkansas |work=McMullan & Brown |url=https://www.m-b.law/squabbles-between-conway-twitty-s-heirs-highlight-the-importance-of-a-properly-updated-estate-plan/ |access-date=1 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Twitty Estate To Be Divided |work=CMT News |url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1475896/twitty-estate-to-be-divided/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227161815/http://www.cmt.com/news/1475896/twitty-estate-to-be-divided/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |access-date=1 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Benefield |first=Chadwick |title=Conway Twitty's Will the Subject of Investigation Discovery [Video] |language=en |work=WBKR |url=https://wbkr.com/conway-twittys-will-the-subject-of-investigation-discovery-video/ |access-date=1 July 2021}}</ref> In one instance, the estate sued his two daughters, claiming loans were due to be repaid. Five years after his death, The Tennessee Appeals Court referred to that case in its opening sentence with, "This is yet another chapter in the administration of the estate of Harold L. Jenkins, a popular entertainer whose stage name was 'Conway Twitty.'" The court sided with the daughters finding that the accountants and controllers of Twitty's books while he was alive, who later became the executors of the estate, kept "limited and sketchy information" when it came to the family members.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ESTATE OF HAROLD JENKINS v. Kathy Jenkins, Joni Jenkins |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/982/jenkinsh.pdf |access-date=1 July 2021 |website=Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |publisher=Administrative Office of the Courts}}</ref> In other instances, employees sued because of oral promises "to be taken care of" by Twitty and often were successful. The court found Twitty rarely, if ever, memorialized contracts with family members, contractors and employees in writing. Oral promises included bonuses of $1000 per year of employment. The estate attempted to reduce that to $100 per year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Claim of BILLY R. PARKS IN RE: ESTATE OF HAROLD JENKINS |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/954/JENKINSH.pdf |access-date=1 July 2021 |website=Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |publisher=Administrative Office of the Courts}}</ref>