With her powerful singing and contagious smile, Reba McEntire has been a country music legend since the late 1970s. But behind her amazing success is a story of heartbreak and strength.
Jacqueline, Reba’s mother, died of cancer in 2022, leaving a hole that can’t be filled. The bond between them was very strong, and Jacqueline taught Reba to love singing. Reba thanked God for her mother’s life on social media, writing, “Cancer may think it won, but we give God the credit for choosing her time to go home.”
This wasn’t Reba’s first time being sad about a loss. Seven members of her band and her boss died in a plane crash on March 16, 1991, 32 years ago. No one was hurt.
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Reba and her husband at the time chose to stay the night in San Diego instead of taking the dangerous trip. Reba’s life will never be the same after what happened. In a painful memory, she told Oprah in 2012, “The tip of the wing hit a rock on Otay Mountain… it killed everyone on the plane.”
Reba still remembers her late band members even after many years have passed. On social media in 2020, she paid respect to those who had died in a plane crash, saying, “I lost friends in a plane crash 39 years ago today… I know they are all safe and happy in heaven together.
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Reba’s bravery in talking about her sadness has moved a lot of fans. They gathered around her and gave her words of support and encouragement. Anyone who read it wrote, “Prayers for you and your family.”
Reba finds comfort in music and honours the memory of her friends every year. She wrote next to a film of one of their shows, “Their love of music and the stage gives us strength to go on.”
Reba’s story is a powerful lesson to treasure every moment with loved ones and be there for each other through the ups and downs of life.
