The Legend of George Jones: His Life and Death

by Peanutt Montgomery

  We’d ride for hours down winding roads, and we didn’t have any idea where we’d wind up? Once George felt safe, he would be fine. I would be completely worn out from driving for hours, listening to him, and wrestling with him to leave the steering wheel alone. Many times I’d drive for two days with no rest at all. My head would actually be throbbing from a headache, but we were so far from home, and no one to help me drive. George was all messed up, and I certainly wasn’t going to ride with him behind the wheel.

  I had to handle these difficult circumstances alone. When George did actually make a show, Shug and his gang of thugs would meet us there. They were all shined up in their expensive suits, every white hair in place, and looked like they were the stars after I had been through pure hell trying to get George to the show date. They would make derogatory remarks about my appearance.

  Sometimes I didn’t have a chance to change clothes after wearing the same outfit for a couple of days or more or get my hair fixed. I had no choice but to appear the way I arrived. It had never been that way before Shug came into the picture. I always had plenty of time to get ready to go to shows. I always looked nice, but Shug wanted me to look haggard, worn, and nasty. He wanted George to notice how out of sorts I was becoming and use that against me to get me out of the way. He wanted Peanutt and Charlene gone no matter what the cost. The sad part of all this was he would get what he wanted.

  After we had gone on one long trip that felt like it was never going to end, I told George that after we got home that he had to go get help to get off drugs, or I was going to leave him. I told him I was no longer going to take abuse. He agreed to go to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence to get help. I made arrangements and had him committed. He said he felt he could get off of drugs with the help of the hospital. He promised me he’d try his best to straighten out his life and get our lives back together. He was serious, and I knew he was a sick man who needed help, but I was afraid of what that bunch of drug dealers in Nashville would try and do once he got out of the hospital.

  I told George I was willing to stick it out with him because I loved him and wanted him to get his life back. I also told him I expected him to do his part and to try and help himself for his own sake. I stayed at the hospital day and night with him. I’d take my baths right there in his room. I’d have Charlene bring me a change of clothes and take my dirty ones with her every day. George didn’t want me to leave him, not for a minute, and I didn’t. Each day he was showing a little more strength.

  “When I get out of here, you’ll see a change. I promise you Linda, I’ll straighten up if you’ll not leave me.” George was broken and sincere.

  I didn’t have any intentions of leaving George; he needed me and I wasn’t about to abandon him in his time of need, but I couldn’t let him know that.

  When he was finally released from the hospital and we returned home, George was doing fine. He was off of cocaine and wasn’t drinking much either. George was staying away from Shug now, and his cronies couldn’t stand it. George stayed straight for three months. During this time, we had moved to Knightsbridge Road in the Creekwood subdivision in Florence.

  George’s son, Jeffrey, had married, and he and his wife, Sue, had come to live with us. Sue was such a sweet girl. She was so easy going and just a lovely little lady. I just loved her to death (I still talk to her today occasionally). Jeffrey got a job, and Sue was with me when George had to go out of town.

  George was doing better than he had been for a long time. He loved our house, and it was only a few streets from where Peanutt and Charlene lived. We were always doing little things together. George was happy that Jeffrey and Sue were there. He really loved Sue like his own daughter.

  The vampires in Nashville weren’t happy that things were going so well in George’s life. They reminded me of a bunch of buzzards sitting back waiting for a chance to grab their prey. I tried to keep things from George that I knew would upset him, but they made sure that he heard about everything. They’d tell him about the stories reported in the magazines, so he would buy them and read about himself. The tabloids would say things like, “George Jones is reportedly sick, battle worn, sleeping in his car cause he has no place to live, and no place to go.”

  George would get all bent out of shape about what he read because the stories were nothing but lies. George was doing very well. He had a brand new house. He always had a home. George was never without a place to go, he never slept in his car, and I was at the door to greet him every time he came home.

  Even if the story about George not having a place to call his own, and nowhere to go, had been true, he had loyal and true friends who looked out for him. He knew he could always call and count on Peanutt and Charlene. They would never turn George away under any circumstances. George knew that. Peanutt and Charlene both loved George. They would have died for that man. They did everything they could to help him, but that bunch of heathens in Nashville despised them for lending George a helping hand. They wanted to force George to return to them for help.

  George was strong enough to make it for about a year. He had been doing his show dates. We were doing well together and happy. Life was treating us good. He was paying for our new home, and we had Jeffrey and Sue with us. Peanutt and Charlene were going to the show dates with us again, and life had returned to normal.

  In early 1979, all hell broke loose again. Shug came back into the picture. This time he was determined to bring George to the bottom. George would go for days without eating. He snorted cocaine heavier than ever. Sue and Jeffrey returned to Texas, and things were getting really bad.

  George became paranoid and confused. He’d come home completely wiped out. I’d sit on the side of the bed and feed him broth and chicken soups trying to get him to gain some strength. He’d refuse to eat anything, but I could get him to sip beef broth through a straw. He was losing weight and looked like he was about to die. It was so scary seeing him waste away. I knew George had to have some help. I didn’t know what on earth to do, and I knew I couldn’t overpower the cocaine addiction or the people who supplied it.

  George’s weight dropped to 97 pounds. I begged him to get help, but he refused. I sat beside him night after night trying to get him to eat, but all he wanted was Jack Daniels, 7-up, and his cocaine. His colon was completely gone, and I’d watch him fall off to sleep and wonder if he’d ever wake up. I finally called Peanutt.

  “Peanutt, if George don’t get some help he is going to die,” I said. “Peanutt, if you love George, you’ll get him some help.”

  “I will try my best to get him into Hillcrest Hospital in Birmingham,” Peanutt replied. “I’m not sure what I’ll have to do, but I’m gonna do whatever it takes.”

  Peanutt knew George was dying. He had been out to eat with George and saw George eating chicken off his plate with his teeth and shaking his head until it fell off the bone. Peanutt knew George would never do something like that if he was in his right mind. Peanutt had seen George’s strange behavior firsthand and knew something had to be done right away.

  Peanutt went to Judge Duncan and got George’s Power of Attorney, so he could have him committed to the hospital. Peanutt called me that same day,

  “Linda, George will be picked up by the Sheriff and will be admitted to Hillcrest Hospital in Birmingham. I have already set it up. George will be mad at me, but I’d rather have him mad at me than for me to see him dead.”

  “You are right, Peanutt, George has got to have help.” I was so proud of what Peanutt had done.

  George was picked up and carried to Hillcrest Hospital by a Court Order. Sure, it made George furious at first, but once he got settled, and Dr. Knuckles told him that he would not have lived another thirty days if he had not gotten help, George began to realize that what Peanutt had done was strictly to save his life. George was no longer furious at Peanutt, but appreciated and loved him for it.

  I get sick to my stomach when I read in other books that have been written where everybo
dy else tries to take credit for being George’s mentors, friends, and an influence over him during these dark places in his life.

  After George was well, he was back on the road. He was moving away from me very quickly, and I was helpless to stop what he was doing. He was drinking heavily and was being influenced by some very bad women. A couple of these people were hanging on to George and trying to get him to take them on some of his trips.

  On one particular occasion, George was drunk and asked the women to go to New York with him to see him perform in a concert. They all went together. George got tired of them very quickly and then came home to me but left them in New York. He went to bed to get some rest. The phone rang. I answered, and there was a woman on the line asking to speak to George. I told her he was asleep, and that I would not wake him up. I asked who she was, and she said Nancy.

  “He left my ass in New York, and I want to talk to him!” She yelled.

  I hung up on her. About an hour later, a man called and told me that the Mafia was on their way down from Nashville to come run houses and if I ever listened to anyone in my life, I had better listen to what he had to say.

  “You had better get out of that house and get out now, or you could be hurt bad,” The man explained.

  Dale was there, so I finally decided to take him to my mother’s, which was only about three miles away. When I made it to my mother’s, I decided to call my house. Some man answered and then handed the phone to the woman who said her name was Nancy. I told her that I would be home in a few minutes, and she had better be out of my house when I got there.

  I went home, she was gone, the man was gone, and so was George. Finally, Billy Danley (a friend of George) called me.

  “Linda, George wanted me to call and tell you that he is with me. He wanted me to hide him from that bunch that took him off from home. He said he had to get away from them. I’ve got him with me. George said that he’d get in touch with you as soon as he could.”

  I was fighting mad. I called Charlene and told her what was going on. She was highly upset with George. George then went to Peanutt and Charlene’s and had Charlene call his house to see if anybody would answer? Nancy answered the phone. She had gone into my home and would not leave. George asked Charlene to call his house and tell the woman to get out, but she refused to leave.

  George continued to stay with Peanutt and Charlene hoping the squatting woman would get out of our house. Finally, he sent Jimmy and Ann Hills (his booking agent) over there to try and persuade her to leave. Nancy decided to overdose on pills. Jimmy had to rush her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. Unbelievably, they decided to bring her back to our house to recover. When George became aware of the situation, he started calling her and cursing her out, trying to get her to leave.

  “Get out of my house you whore, you bitch, do you hear me? Get out of my damn house.”

  George would scream at her on the phone, Nancy would not budge. I could have called the police and had her removed, but I was afraid everything would wind up in the news. I knew George didn’t need that, so I backed off and left it up to George to get her out.

  A few days later, she overdosed again. She had to call Jimmy Hills to take her back to the hospital and have her stomach pumped again. This went on for days, and then turned into weeks, and finally I told George that I was not going to put up with this mess any longer. George begged me to come over to Peanutt’s, but I would not. I was mad at him for getting himself into such a bad situation.

  Charlene told George that she didn’t want me to come back to him. George reacted and was angry enough that he went home with the intentions of removing Nancy from the house. He was physically going to carry her back to Louisiana. When George headed the car toward Louisiana, Nancy realized what he was doing. She suddenly jumped from the car and broke her arm when she hit the pavement.

  George had to take her to the hospital to get her arm set and in a cast. Finally, I told George that I would not come home until Nancy was completely out of our home and lives. Nancy took up residence in my home with all my possessions still in the house and would not leave. George had to go home. He was in a bad situation he couldn’t get out of.

  Nancy invited some of her friends over to our house to party for a few days. George called Peanutt and Charlene and asked them to come over to the house. When they arrived at the house, Charlene said there were men and women there that she didn’t know, so she left.

  George finally realized that I was not coming home. I had to find a place to live, so I rented an apartment. I did stay at my mother’s place as a safety matter until George and Nancy moved on. Nancy moved her children into our home with her and enrolled them in school. One of the girls didn’t stay and went back home to live with her father.

  An incident occurred when Peanutt and Charlene were visiting at George’s house while Nancy was there. Nancy was spouting off to Charlene and irritating her. They were getting into a pretty heated discussion when Peanutt broke it up by taking Charlene home. Peanutt did the right thing because Charlene has a temper and if you push her to that point, she’ll level with you in a heartbeat and never blink an eye.

  George and Nancy were finally together. George had no other choice. He was stuck with what he had gotten himself into, but he’d still call Charlene from time to time trying to get me to come home to him, but I wasn’t about to get myself into that mess. Eventually they moved to Louisiana for a while and then wound up in Texas. When they founded and built an amusement park, George decided he would cave in and marry Nancy. The date was March 5, 1983. During the entire time he was with Nancy, George would call me and ask me to come back to him. I always refused.

  George’s sister, Ruth, and her husband, Buster, came to my house one day and told me that they were with George at the Wheeler Lodge, and that George had sent them after me to come up there and see him. I told Ruth to tell him that I would not stoop that low. I knew he was a married man, or at least I thought he was, and that I would not meet him as long as he was with Nancy. I knew that I had never gotten a divorce from George and was still his common-law wife, but that still didn’t make it okay with me. He was living with another woman, and I would not do to her what she did to me.

  There have been occasions throughout the years that George would call me and talk to me, but I have never agreed to see him in person alone. There were people around George that kept me informed about him. They knew how I felt about George and thought they were doing me a favor by telling me things, but I really wasn’t interested anymore. I knew that there was a picture being painted to the public that everything was fine and dandy. It was said that George had completely quit drinking and hadn’t had a drop of alcohol in such a long time. I knew better than that. I knew what was going on, but the real truth came out when he wrecked his car by hitting a bridge that nearly killed him. He was intoxicated that day. So you can paint all the pictures you want, but the truth will come out.

  I know that George was not as good to Nancy as everybody was being told he was. I also knew that she had to go through a lot of hell before it ever got to where it was in his older years. Everybody wants to give someone else credit for George getting straightened out, but what really straightened George out was his age and his health. I like to give credit to George for coming to his senses and realizing that he either had to straighten up or die.

  Peanutt Montgomery was the one who saved his life a long time ago by putting him in the hospital in Hillcrest. George would have died back there if Peanutt hadn’t put him in Hillcrest. Dr. Knuckles told George he would not have lived another thirty days if he hadn’t been admitted to the hospital. I’m thankful that things settled down for him and Nancy. I think she has been good for him, especially in his later years. He had to have somebody to take care of him, and I think she did a good job. I also think George finally started depending on her, and she hung in there with him through thick and thin, and I know she stuck it out with him right to the end. She highly resented Peanutt
and Charlene and would not let George have any connection to them, but she didn’t know how much Charlene and Peanutt had tried to help George.

  I’m thankful that George did apologize to Peanutt and asked his forgiveness before he died. George didn’t have to go to that trouble. Peanutt was never mad at George about anything. They didn’t have anything against Nancy except the fact that she wouldn’t let them have any association with George.

  In 1986, I wanted to get remarried, but the judge pointed her finger at me and said, “You won’t be marrying anybody until you get a divorce from George Jones.” I told her that George was already remarried, so what did it matter. She said he might think he’s married, but he’s not, and don’t you ever think that two wrongs make a right. I asked the judge what I should do? She plainly said go get a lawyer and file for a divorce. I went to a lawyer and explained what I needed to do. He wanted me to hit George for a lot of money.

  “No. I only want enough to pay my legal bills and nothing else,” I said.

  “No, you deserve and have a right to some of this money,” he explained.

  When I went down to sign the divorce papers, my Attorney took one-third of the money and gave me the rest. I had to sign a bunch of papers, and then he told me I was now divorced and free to get married.

  That was the end of my relationship with George Jones. I felt better now that the divorce was over. I went on with my life. I loved George, and I still love him and will always love him. He was very good to me, and I’ll never forget it. He died knowing that as well as I do.

  I think George really cared for Nancy toward the end of his life. I think she had to be a tough lady to be able to stay with him; especially, when he was on cocaine so badly. Once he had totally settled down, I hope there are no hard feelings for either of them. I just wanted to set the record straight. I am his fourth wife and feel that I should be recognized for that.