Jessie Wanda Williams (née Crupe), known under the stage name Chickie Williams, (February 13, 1919 – November 18, 2007) was an American

country musician Country (also called country and western) is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing stori ...

from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

who is best known for performing on the Wheeling Jamboree radio program on

WVVA WVVA (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Bluefield, West Virginia, United States, serving the Bluefield– Beckley– Oak Hill market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on U.S. ...

with her husband Doc Williams and their band the Border Riders. In 1948, Williams' original arrangement of the hymn "Beyond the Sunset," was charted #3 in Billboard trade magazine's Top 100 Country Music Songs.

Early life and family

Jessie Wanda Crupe was born in

Bethany, West Virginia Bethany is a town in southern Brooke County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 756 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. It is best known as the home of Bethany College, a private libe ...

, in 1919. She married Doc Williams on October 9, 1939, in

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

, and they relocated to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. The next year they moved to

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

, to raise their family when Williams became pregnant with their first child. Wheeling remained her home for the rest of her life. The couple had three daughters, Barbara, Madeline, and Karen, who were known on the air as "Peeper", "Pooch", and "Punkin".

Death and honors

Williams died in November 2007. In 2008 the state of West Virginia named a section of a road in Wheeling to be called "the "Doc and Chickie Williams Highway; Country Music Royal Couple."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Chickie Musicians from Wheeling, West Virginia Country musicians from West Virginia American women country singers American country singer-songwriters People from Bethany, West Virginia Singer-songwriters from West Virginia