JUDY'S LIFE IN COUNTRY MUSIC

I was born Alice L. Schreiber in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, a long, long, time ago. It seems like it anyway. I hope y'all will sit back and enjoy my story.

GROWING UP I grew up with a background of music. My Father had a band and as long as I can remember I aways dreamed that I would be able to play in the band someday. It was called " Barney Schreiber and the Hayshaker's". They would practice every wednesday night. My dream finally came true when I was 14 years old. I coaxed my Dad into teaching me some chords. I'll never forget the first song I ever learned to sing and play was. " I'll hold you in my heart ", by Eddie Arnold. I was hooked line and sinker. So I started playing the guitar and sang the old songs. I learned how to play in 3 months and I was good enough to play in my Dad's band. Then my sister Betty, decided she wanted to play and sing also, so we started to sing duet's and play in the band. I was playing the guitar and the bass fiddle at that time,so she took over playing the base and I the guitar, and we would switch instruments. We sang alot of harmony in those days and entered some contests and we won a whole bunch of them. As we grew older like at 16 we decided to quit Daddy's band and go out on our own. We played at the WKBI Radio Station every Saturday with a bunch of friends and had a live Jamboree in St. Marys, Pennsylvania at the Theatre. We called ourselves The Golden West Girls. My Father could play any instrument he got his hands on and he was great on them all. He was way ahead of his time as an accomplished musician He was very talented. In fact he was a great musician. He mostly played the saxaphone and made it sound so sweet. On Saturday nights we would play at the St. Marys Theatre, and any where they would hire us. Our band consisted of Buddy Spicher, Bobby Spicher,Donna Darlene and my sister Betty Schreiber and of course me, Judy Lee My Dad, Barney Schreiber would play with us at the Radio show, and then Donnie Knouse and his Father Tex joined us at the Jamboree. Tex also played the saxaphone and they would play harmony together and it was so beautiful. Romey Segal also joined the Jamboree at that time. Lyle Huggler had a morning show on WKBI and he joined us at the Jamboree and the Radio Show. We got lots of mail and tried to answer all of the requests and most of the time we would have to do them the next Saturday. Then one by one, we all left and started to play in Wheeling West, Va. at the WWVA World's Original Jamboree. That was the ultimate for all of us. We all had the same dream when we were little, as we listened to Wheeling on Saturday nights. I remember my Dad would holler from the garage and say, come out here, and listen to this or listen to that. We could get the KWKH Louisiana Hayride early in the mornings and also WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. My dream came true and I left St. Marys to play country music. My sister stayed behind and eventually got married to a wonderful guy from Johnsonburg,Pa. Joseph Dickey, and 5 kids later. LOL. She has a wonderful family and grandchildren. I left home and went to Cleveland, Ohio and played at the Circle Theatre every Saturday night.That is when I changed my name to Judy Lee, because Ernie Benedict said that Alice was not Country enough and people couldn't remember that name. I was the Girl singer in the band and we played at WAKR in Akron, Ohio on his TV Show. It was called Ernie Benedick and his Range Rider's. Dottie West and her husband Billy were at the Circle Theatre and we stayed friend's , until her untimely death. I went on to Wheeling, West VA. and played the Jamboree and while I was on the road I met Betty Amos and we decided to team up and get a band together and think about going to Nashville, Tennessee. Of course! Betty Amos was from Boones, Mill, VA. and she played with Bill Carlisle at KWKH Schreveport, Louisiana Hayride, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.. She also had records out on Mercury at that time. She was at the Hayride the first time that Elvis Presley sang.She played many shows with him around Louisiana and Texas. This picture was taken at Sagelac AFB Radar Site Jan.17,1961 while entertaining the troops. Jean Amos,Judy Lee and Betty Amos

The night before the plane crash

"January-18- 1961 Plane Crash in the Baffin Islands. Betty and Jean Amos and Judy Lee
Schreiber "

Betty, her sister Jean and I played as a trio and went overseas to Greenland several times and played at Thule AF Base. We were booked for a USO show at the Radar Sites in Labrador and the NorthWest Territories in Canada.
We left Goose Bay, Labrador, to play at Sagalac AFB and had a great time. The next day we were on our way to Frobisher Bay and the C47 workhorse that we were in, developed engine trouble and one engine went out and Col.Victor Milner was the pilot and also the Commander of Goose Bay, Labrador. They opened the door and they threw out anything they could get there hands on to lighten the plane. All of our luggage,Amplifier's, Instrument.s and anything that had any weight . I heard Col. Milner holler back to all of us that we had to crash land on the strip of ice that he seen. We were going down and of course if we were to go in the Ocean we would freeze in about eighteen seconds. So the only alternative is to crash land and hope for the best. The next thing I knew I started to sing, I don't know why , but I was not thinking of getting killed. We hit the strip of ice and all I could hear was crunching of the plane's belly on the ice, cause the landing gear collapsed. We finally stopped and the right wing and the tail section was damaged cause we hit the side of the mountain, which was all ice. Our Radio went out right away, so we couldn't contact Resolution Island Radar site. But! Sagalac Radar and Resolution Island knew where the plane went out of the Radar. They knew we were in real trouble.

The first thing Col. Milner did was to turn it over to Commadore Bradshaw who was from the Canadian Air Force. He was like a Four Star General in the US. Commodore Bradshaw asked , Col. Milner to take over. We had a Col.,
Commodore,Cpt. Lt. Three Sgt.'s and an Airman on the plane. At this time they went out side of the plane and seen the trouble that we were in. We were against this mountain of jagged ice. They started to collect what food and candy bars that any one of us had on them. All of a sudden one of the crew members yelled that we had to get off the plane because the ice was cracking from the weight of the plane. That is when it started to get really scary. We had to start climbing up the crevices of ice to try to get to the land above. Jean slipped and Betty and I caught her before she fell down in to a deep crevice, in which there would have been no way to save her. So God was on our side and he had his Guardian Angels watching out for all of us.

The first thing that Col. Milner said that we would not be rescued until the next day and there was no way we could last because of the cold. It was
seventy below zero. What the men intended to do was put all the women in the middle and everyone get in a circle and try to stay warm, because there wasn't any way to start a fire.

Then we heard a plane and they circled the little area where we were .We were thankful because it was starting to get dark and we knew that we would n't be alive the next day. So it was now or never for us. It was Ken Wheeler of Wheeler Airlines and a Canadian Mounted Police. They had a twin engine Cessna with ski's. We had a sign made on the ice with red chalk saying food. Because none of us were hurt at that time. They finally landed the Cessna. Then they said that only 10 people could go on the plane, and that three would have to stay and we knew they would never survive, so we all voted to take everybody. We were all on top of each other stuffed like sardines in a can. They started the plane and Ken Wheeler and Col. Milner were the Pilot's. Col. Milner was called a Dare Devil and one of the best Pilot's around. We had to go in circles to get air speed and when all of a sudded Ken said "we can't make it, we have to stop and Col. Milner said no way and gave it all it had and hit a piece of ice and it was enough to get us off Airborne. Whew! That is when Commadore Bradshaw hit his head on the top of the plane and got a big egg. Now we were in the air. When we hit that chunk of ice, we broke one of the ski's.

Now we were in another pickle! Because Resolution Island was ten miles from the Air Plane Crash site and It was a short runway and we had all of this weight ,plus a broken ski. Because if we kept going we would go over a 200 foot Cliff and of course that would have been all she wrote. So we were all saying silent prayer's about that time. We were comng into land, and I was expecting the plane to fall apart, but! we made it, again we were saved by Hero's Col. Victor Milner and Ken Wheeler. who would not give up. We were all thankful that we were alive and Thank God for the Artic Gear that we had on, so we wouldn't freeze.

We were the first Women in Air Force History to ever stay overnight at Resolution Island Radar Site in the Baffin Islands. It was a small Base of 100 men and they were all wonderful to us. All we had left was our purses and the clothes we had on.

They put us in the infirmery and posted guards to protect our privacy. We were invited to a Banquet that they prepared for us at the last minute. The food was excellant. They had some old instrument's that the boys would get together at night and play. So we decided to put on a show for them anyway. Col. Milner played the drum on an old can an Commadore Bradshaw plunked on a Banjo and we had a Guitar and we sat around and put on a little show anyway. I think that was the best audience we ever had.

The next day we were to leave for Frobisher Bay Radar Site and go back to Goose Bay. We were a little nervous about getting on another plane. Only small planes could land at Resolution Island. We got to Frobisher and the plane we were in had trouble with the Magnetic Needle and something else was wrong. So over night again. This time they took us to a Eskimo Square Dance. It was a site to behold. One Eskimo wanted to rub nose's with Jean Amos cause she was a blonde. LOL.
We got up and sang Shake Rattle and Roll because we figured they would know that song. And they did. It was quite a reception. They also took us out to an Eskimo Village. That in itself was quite an experience.

The next day we finally left for Goose Bay Labrador and possibly home we think. We landed at Goose Bay and the BBC news was there to greet us. They had us call our Parents right away before the news hit home. It was a good thing because after I called my Mom and Dad. A Radio station from Erie, Pa. got a hold of the story and they wanted to interview my parent's and find out if we were okay. Both of my Parent's would have had a heart attack if I hadn't have called and told them I was safe. That is the first time I was ever on the front page of the Dailey Press Newspaper in St. Marys, Pa. What a way to get there.LOL

Our harrowing experience's was not to end just yet. We got on a C118 and the motor burned up before we started out. Okay one more night at Goose Bay.

Now you're wondering what we did for clothes. Well!!!! The boys took up a collection and bought us toothpaste and a toothbrush each. We washed out our under clothes every night and put our hair up in strips of T-shirt material that was kindly donated by some nice people. We had our make up and lipstick in our purse, but we didn't have any decent clothes to wear for the Saturday night Dance at the NCO Club where we were invited. Un-be-knowence to us, all of the boys got together and chipped in to get us a dress at the Hudson Bay Company Store. So off we went and got us an ugly dress to wear. They didn't have much of a variety. We had fun at the Dance.

The next day off to the Good Ole United States. About an hour in the sky and over the Ocean once again they announced, Fasten your Seat belts we have to turn around and go back to Goose Bay . All three of us almost had a heat attack. They said they were throwing gas over board to lighten the plane cause one of our Motor's was burning up. Golly Ding. We sure did a lot of praying until we landed in good old Goose Bay. Nine hours later we finally were airborn once again and on our way to Mcguire AFB in New Jersey. We landed and got out and literally kissed the ground. We got to Custom's and they want our Birth Certificates and our shot records. We tell them they were lost in the plane crash. In the end we had to take the shots over or be put in quarantine for three days. So we quickly bared our shoulder's. LOL- Two month's later we flew to Thule AFB in Greenland to entertain the troops. We got over our fear of flying. We can laugh and joke about the experience we had now almost 40 years later. I can still hear and feel the plane crunching on the ice. For the Grace of God all of us were saved.

We played a string of Theatres in Pennsylvania with Hawkshaw Hawkins from the Grand Ole Opry and he was the one that encouraged us to move to Tennessee .
Hawkshaw had us on as his guests, on his portion of the Grand Old Opry. I can remember to this day
the first time, I played the Grand Ole Opry, my legs didn't want to stop shaking, I was so scared because Chet Atkins was on the Opry that night and I played Lead Guitar and I was so afraid that I would make a mistake. "I Didn't" . Thank Goodness. LOL. Anyway Hawkshaw was our Hero at that time. He was married to Jean Shepard, who was also a regular at the Opry. Jean and Hawk were wonderful people who treated you like family. That's the way it was back then.

Betty, knew Tommy Hill and he introduced us to Don Pierce, owner of Starday Records. Betty's sister Jean Amos was with us at this time and we sang 3 part harmony. Don liked what we were doing and signed us to a contract at Starday. Our first release was a song that Betty,Jean and I wrote, and it was the first Truck Driving song done by Women. It was "18 Wheels A- Rolling." Betty and Jean's Father Lonnie Amos was a Truck Driver at that time for Virginia -Carolina Trucking Company out of Martinsville, VA..

I will never forget my Father was in the hospital in St. Marys, Pa. and we took a portable phonograph record player to the hospital room and played him our first recording of "18 Wheels A-Rollin " on Starday and I remember how proud he was of me. He said to me "quote"( Not bad at all ). He would brag about me to other people but not directly to me. That was his way of saying I am proud of you. Anyway he got to hear us on the Radio in Nashville and Wheeling before he died in 1964 at the age of 59. I still miss him very much.

We played the Grand Ole Opry that week with our friends,Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy Cline before that horrible plane crash in which they all got killed. It shocked the world and our industry in Tennessee. We still miss all of them. Cowboy Copas was on Starday records at that time.

We were regulars at WWVA Jamborree in Wheeling for 3 years and guested on the Opry about every 3 months. We were kept busy traveling around the US, Canada and around the World.

I lived in Hendersonville and had a Booking Agency called "The Judy Lee Agency ". We were losing a lot of sleep because of Bookings so far away from each other and Betty Amos said to me, I know you can book us and get these bookings closer together, so we can get some rest. That was how the Agency got started. And that is another story for later.

Okay later has finally arrived.
Judy Lee Agency.... Next page.