June Carter Cash was born today on June 23, 1929; she would have been 81-years-old. Devoted wife and mother, talented singer and actress, June Carter Cash will always be remembered as the heart and soul of her equally famous husband, Johnny Cash.

At 10-years-old, June began singing and performing country music with her musician family, known as the Carter Family. In her lifetime, she also knew how to play instruments such as the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp. Not only was she a divine singer, she was a comedic actress whose perfect timing always helped people laugh.

Married three times, it was her third marriage to Johnny Cash that really formed an inspiring lifelong musical collaboration, friendship, and faithful love. Together, they wrote and sang treasured country songs and won a Grammy for their album in 1967. Later in life, June Carter Cash released solo albums and won more Grammys during her lifetime in 1999 and posthumously in 2003.

In remembering this strong, independent, and inspirational woman, read June Carter Cash quotes below:

On Marriage

“I chose to be Mrs. Johnny Cash in my life. I decided I’d allow him to be Moses and I’d be Moses’ brother Aaron, picking his arms up and padding along behind him.”
– June Carter Cash

“He’s just like my father that way-my father just adored my mother and let her do whatever she wanted. John’s like that. He’s a very rare man, a very good man, and I’ve had a good life with him. I’m proud to be walking in the wake of Johnny’s fame.”
– June Carter Cash

“I worked with John, but I had enough sense to walk just a little ways behind him. I could have made more records, but I wanted to have a marriage.”
– June Carter Cash

“I was never looking back in regret. I never thought, Oh, why didn’t I become an actress? or Why did I just go paddling along after John? I’ve always walked along right by his side, and he’s always supported everything I do.”
– June Carter Cash

“I have always enjoyed being a part of his life. I’ve always loved him, and he’s always loved me.”
– June Carter Cash

On Music and Performance

“I first heard of [Johnny Cash] through Elvis Presley. Elvis would make me go into these little cafés and listen to John [on the jukebox] when we played in the South–in the Carolinas and all down through Florida and Georgia. Then, one night backstage at the Opry, this man walked up to me and said, ‘I want to meet you, I’m Johnny Cash.’ And I said, ‘Well I oughta know who you are. Elvis can’t even tune his guitar unless he goes, “Everybody knows where you go when the sun goes down.”
– June Carter Cash

“Our lives are entwined with the people over the footlights. We are a part of them.”
– June Carter Cash

 “How can you be any purer than pure if your name is Carter? How can you get away from being a Carter? There’s a part of you that’s gonna come through. How do you keep from doing it? It’s what you’re born to do.”
– June Carter Cash

“I’ve been really happy just traveling and being Mrs. Johnny Cash all these years. But I’m also really happy and surprised that someone wanted me to make another album, and I’m real proud of what I’ve done.”
– June Carter Cash

“I’ve flown out of character so many times. In that sense I’ve been lucky, because I’ve been given the liberty to do just about anything I’ve wanted to do in my lifetime.”
– June Carter Cash

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