Loretta Lynn Had a Sweet 3-Word Reply When Dan Rather Offered Her a Clean ‘Hanky’

Country music star Loretta Lynn had a sweet three-word reply to famed journalist Dan Rather when he was once so kind as to offer her his clean “hanky” for her runny nose.

Friends of the late singer described her as openly giving warmth and affection, and Rather seemed to bring out that side of her, too. But how did he respond when she offered to return his handkerchief after she used it?

Loretta Lynn was very affectionate ‘like a grandmother,’ friends said

After Lynn’s death, tributes described her as an abundantly warm person. A friend and fellow country musician Kelly Lang told NewsChannel 5 out of Nashville, Tennessee, that the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer and movie inspiration was “very affectionate.”

Lang said Lynn made people feel like they were “the only person that mattered to her, even if she had thousands of people screaming her name outside.”

“If she was in conversation with you,” Lang noted, “that was exactly what she was planning on doing until she was completed.”

Lynn had a way of making people feel special with her warmth. Lang explained that if “you were in her presence, she was kissing on you or patting on you the whole time like a grandmother,” adding, “You were the only one in the room.”

Another friend told WBTV out of Charlotte, North Carolina, that Lynn “was just so genuine with her love and affection to everybody.”

They shared, “Loretta would say I love you, honey, I love you, baby. And that’s how she was.”

Loretta Lynn had a sweet reply to Dan Rather when he offered her a ‘hanky’

When Lynn joined Rather for The Big interview, he told the country music icon he hoped it would be the best interview she’d ever done. “It will be,” she assured him. But part way through the chat, she had to stop everything because her nose was running.

Lynn told Rather she’d brought along a tissue, but he offered her a handkerchief. “Dan’s gonna give me his hanky,” she announced.

“This is a brand new clean handkerchief that I have here for you,” Rather told her, to which she replied, “Thank you, honey.”

Notably, Rather allowed her to keep the used hanky as a gift, but she offered to return it. “Mercy, I’ll give you this back,” she told him.

“No, you can have it,” he said, adding, “I’d be honored if you’d have it.”  

Dan Rather said Loretta Lynn was a storyteller that ‘sparkled like a diamond’

After Lynn died in October 2022, Rather took to Twitter to pay tribute, like many others who knew the Grammy-winning country star. He wrote, “News hits hard with the passing of Loretta Lynn. Her evocative music. Her fierce spirit.”

According to Rather, Lynn was “a storyteller who used song to channel an America that is quickly vanishing.”

“She was a coal miner’s daughter who sparkled like a diamond,” he noted, “brilliant, unbreakable, and resplendent.”