Date:
9/27/2007
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
Reporter: Erin Griffith
PORTALES—Echo McGuire Griffith, an Eastern New Mexico University alumna, dated Buddy Holly for several years, and turned down a kiss from Elvis Presley.
Although they were born in different hospitals four months apart, the same doctor delivered Griffith and Holly in Lubbock, Texas.
"I first remember meeting Buddy in fourth grade at Roscoe Wilson Elementary School. At that time, he was just another boy who liked to tease me and pull on my long braids," Griffith reminisced.
Holly attended a different school beginning the second half of fifth and sixth grades, but both attended J.T. Hutchinson Junior High for seventh, eight and ninth grades. Griffith remembers the assemblies in which Holly and his best friend, Bob Montgomery, played their guitars and sang.
"It was during the ninth grade that the three of us became good friends," Griffith said. "When school was out for the summer the guys would come by my house, when they weren't working, and we would play ping-pong in my backyard and then go get a Coke."
In the fall of that year when Griffith, Holly and Montgomery began the tenth grade at Lubbock High School (LHS), Griffith began dating both Buddy and Bob.
"I attended a LHS football game on my first date with Buddy. It was kind of awkward because both of the guys wanted to date me. My mother was firm about not 'going steady,' so I dated both of them – usually, to the football game with one on Friday nights, and to a movie with the other on Saturday," recalled Griffith, who by the spring of that year had quit dating Montgomery.
Griffith believes that Holly was a genuinely good guy, likable, had a good sense of humor, and was talented in many areas besides music. Once Holly made her a leather belt and chaps to wear to LHS "Western Day"—they even rode horses to school. "He came from a musical family, and also from a conservative church background; he had a great respect for his mother, and she usually set a curfew for him."
The pair dated through the rest of high school, graduating in 1955, and into Griffith's college years. Her first year of college, Griffith attended Abilene Christian University (ACU) which was about three hours from Lubbock; this was convenient since Buddy had stayed at home to work in his father's business and pursue his musical career. However, Griffith and her roommate at ACU decided to go to a small liberal arts school, York College in Nebraska, the following year.
"Being so far away from Lubbock put a strain on my relationship with Buddy, but we kept in touch by mail. During the fall semester, he drove up to visit me in York, which helped to 'break up' the long term away from home. Then, of course, we were together while I was in Lubbock for the Christmas vacation," Griffith said.
However, when she returned to York that spring, she met Ronald Griffith, another musician and the man she would eventually break Holly's heart for.
"Since I was the receptionist for the registrar's office, I was the first girl Ron met at York. When he inquired about me, several of the boys told him that he was 'out of luck' because I was Buddy Holly's girlfriend. He was a bit intimidated when he found out that it was true, but when we began to date later that semester, we found that we shared many ideas, goals and interests," Griffith said.
Holly was already growing famous by this time; he had recorded several records, been on the Ed Sullivan Show and had toured in the United States and abroad. He and Montgomery had opened for Elvis Presley’s show in Lubbock. Following the show, Holly took Griffith backstage to meet Presley. When he asked if he could kiss her, she turned him down. "I wasn't that kind of girl," she explained.
Having been raised in the Church of Christ, Griffith believed that she should marry within their church framework and Holly was a Baptist. So that presented a major obstacle in their relationship. By the time she went home for Christmas in her junior year, she realized that they were headed in two different directions, and she broke up with Holly. Unknown to her at the time, he had been planning to give her a gold necklace with his name in script. After they broke up, he gave the necklace to his mother to keep, and many years later, when Griffith met Larry Holley, Buddy's older brother, he gave the necklace to her.
"I have often stated that I didn't love Buddy any less, but I knew that we were headed in different directions. I also knew that God had ‘a call’ on my life and I wanted to be obedient to Him. Ron and I shared the same goals and interests, and he stole my heart," Griffith said.
Soon after the breakup, Holly wrote the song "Peggy Sue Got Married." Griffith stated that many authorities feel that song was about her, as well as many others that he wrote. A lot of people ask her if she is "Peggy Sue," but Peggy Sue was actually the drummer's girlfriend; she and Holly used to double-date with them some. (The original song title was “Cindy Lou,” named after Holly's baby niece, but his drummer talked him into changing it to “Peggy Sue.”)
Echo and Ron were married Feb.14, 1958, and eventually had three children.
Both received their master's degrees from ENMU: hers in elementary education and his in music education.
Following Griffith's teaching for two years at Gattis Junior High in Clovis, one year at Plainview High School in Texas and three years at Abilene Christian University, they returned to Portales. Ron served as an assistant professor of music and Director of Opera at ENMU for five years. Echo owned and operated a private kindergarten in Portales. They now reside in Carlsbad, N.M.
They have spent the past 30 years publishing a "scripture column" in newspapers called "Lifescope." They have traveled extensively throughout the United States and to 39 foreign nations sharing their faith. Neither had ever thought about Griffith dating Holly as being so unusual and they had never attended any of the Buddy Holly festivals, until just a few years ago.
"We were officially invited to the Buddy Holly Festival by the city of Lubbock the year that they were honoring Bob Montgomery (Buddy's bandmate from high school) at the Walk of Fame. Montgomery had named his first daughter after me; I knew she would be there with her dad and I wanted to meet her. Since that time, we have been invited on a regular basis to the Lubbock and Clovis music festivals. We were even invited a few years ago to Australia by the Australian Buddy Holly Appreciation Society," Griffith said. “Buddy had toured Australia and we met many of his fans; we were astonished at the large collections of memorabilia that many of them possess.”
Even though it has been almost 50 years since Holly's death, his music remains as popular as ever. Griffith believes it is because, "Buddy's music is appealing, innovative and is liked by all ages. His chord progressions, rhythms and words were all original and fresh.”
She still treasures the memories that they shared and has enjoyed participating with his family and fellow band members at the festivals. Unfortunately, his dream of building a recording studio in Lubbock to help other young musicians get started on their careers was cut down by his untimely death.
