Grand Ole Opry's Skeeter Davis dies at 72

United Press International
Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 12:00 a.m. | Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 12:00 a.m.

Grand Ole Opry member Skeeter Davis, whose crossover hit "The End of the World" made her a star, died in Nashville after a long battle with cancer. She was 72.

Davis died Sunday at Alive Hospice, the Tennessean reported Monday.

Davis was born Mary Frances Penick on Dec. 30, 1931, in the Appalachian town of Dry Ridge, Ky.

She received the "Skeeter" nickname as a child from her grandfather who said Davis was "just like a little 'ol water bug ... skeeting here and there.'"

"The End of the World," recorded in 1962 with strings, piano and smooth vocals, was an example of the classic "Nashville Sound" that made Nashville and Davis known to many who previously had ignored country music.

The singer is survived by sisters Shirley Katherine Elfers of Ormond By The Sea, Fla., and Carolyn Sue Penick of Fairview, Tenn.; and brothers James Williams Penick of Dry Ridge, Ky., and Harold Lee Penick of College Grove, Tenn.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

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