Tammy Wynette: Sad Endings

As Tammy Wynette neared the end of her life – she died 14 years ago today – she reflected on the challenges she’d faced: A childhood picking cotton, a baby who contracted spinal meningitis, jobs waiting tables and working on factory floors. Five husbands, a bankruptcy filing, a stalker, a house fire. Plus, an allegedly abusive husband, severe health problems, an addiction to painkillers.

So how did Tammy Wynette make peace with a lifetime of struggle? "The sad part about happy endings is there's nothing to write about."

Singer Tammy Wynette shown in this 1989 photo. (AP Photo)

Wynette certainly found plenty to write about over the course of her life and her decades-long country music career. Here are a few of the great songs that sprung from her troubles.

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

'Til I Can Make It on My Own

There Goes My Everything

Written by Linnea Crowther