Myrle Marie Nelson: What happened to Willie Nelson’s mother?

Myrle Marie Nelson was the mother of singer Willie Nelson. Myrle Marie Nelson’s son wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. The country singer, guitarist, and songwriter is regarded as one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. He is one of the most recognized artists in country music after the success of his album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978).

Myrle Marie Nelson: Bio Summary

Who is Willie Nelson’s mother?

Myrle Marie Nelson was born on 3 May 1913 in Pindall, Searcy County, Arkansas, United States of America. She was the daughter of  William Alex Greenhaw and Bertha (Randle) Greenhaw. Myrle was born into a family of music, Her father was an expert banjo player (and moonshiner), her brother Carl played the piano, and Myrle herself was an accomplished guitar player, and they all were singers.

Myrle Marie Nelson got married to Ira Doyle Nelson on September 6, 1929, in Newton County, Arkansas. The couple migrated to Abbott, Texas just after the wedding and their marriage was blessed with a daughter, Bobbie Lee Nelson, on January 1, 1931, and a son, Willie Hugh Nelson, on April 29, 1933 however, his birthday was incorrectly recorded by Dr. F. D. Sims as April 30.

ALSO, READ; Ira Doyle Nelson: Who was Willie Nelson’s father?

Myrle and Ira called their marriage a quit in 1935 and went their separate ways. Ira remarried and moved away and Myrtle also began rambling around and worked as a waitress, dancer, and card dealer in Oklahoma, San Francisco, Oregon, and Washington. Their two children- Bobbie and Willie stayed in Abbott and were raised by Ira’s parents Alfred (Pop) and Nancy.

According to reports, Willie Nelson’s mother married Claude Sharpenstein, and then later married Ken Harvey and they lived in Eugene Oregon until moving to Eastern Washington State where they lived the last nine years of her life.

What happened to Willie Nelson’s mother, Myrle Marie Nelson?

Myrle Marie Nelson passed away on 11 December 1983 in Yakima, Yakima County, Washington, USA. She was 70 years old at the time of her death. According to her Findagrave profile, She died of lung cancer. She was laid to rest at Terrace Heights Memorial Park Yakima, Yakima County, Washington, USA.

Myrle’s daughter Bobbie Nelson died in Austin, Texas, on March 10, 2022, at the age of 91. Her death was announced by her family via social media. They did not reveal the cause of her death, but said that she had died “peacefully and surrounded by family.”

Myrle Marie Nelson’s famous son has been married four times and is the father of eight children. The singer’s first marriage was to Martha Matthews from 1952 to 1962. The couple had three children: Lana, Susie, and Willie “Billy” Hugh Jr. Billy died by suicide in 1991. Nelson’s next marriage was to Shirley Collie in 1963. The couple divorced in 1971.

ALSO, READ; Martha Matthews: What happened to Willie Nelson’s Ex-wife?

Nelson and Collie’s marriage ended when Collie found a bill from the maternity ward of a Houston hospital charged to Nelson and Connie Koepke for the birth of Paula Carlene Nelson. The singer married his third wife Connie Koepke the same year, and they had another daughter, Amy Lee Nelson.

Their marriage ended in a divorce in 1988 and the singer married his current wife, Annie D’Angelo, in 1991. They have two sons, Lukas Autry and Jacob Micah. In 2012, Willie Nelson learned that he fathered a daughter Rene Butts with his friend Mary Haney. Butts died in 2017.