BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – One of Merle Haggard’s most famous songs was “Mama Tried,” but the woman who stood behind the Bakersfield-born singer longest in his life was his older sister Lillian, 17 years his senior.
Lillian Haggard Rea, age 103, died this week, eight and a half years after her famous brother’s passing.
Lillian’s death was confirmed by her nephew Jim Haggard.
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Lillian Haggard was born in an abandoned log cabin in Checotah, Okla., in 1921. She lived in the converted boxcar their father James built in the 1930s, and worked for years as an attendance clerk at Bakersfield High School, which Merle attended for about six weeks. That boxcar now resides at the Kern County Museum.
Memorial services will be a private family affair. Lillian will be laid to rest at Greenlawn Northeast, next to her mother Flossie, father James and brother Lowell. Merle Haggard is buried in Shasta County.
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