Obituaries : Virgil W. Gifford; Retired Entertainer

Virgil W. Gifford of Lancaster, a retired country-Western entertainer, has died at a Palmdale hospital. He was 52.

Gifford died Tuesday of a heart attack, said his wife, Patricia Gifford.

Born in Winnsboro, Tex., Gifford came to California as a child. He became interested in music at an early age, singing and playing the guitar in the Grand Ol’ Opera when he was 9, and starring with his band, Virgil Gifford’s Country Affair, in a local television show called “Sandy’s Hayride” when he was a teen-ager. He served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army during the mid-1950s.

After he was discharged, he sang and played with his band throughout the country. Gifford also co-wrote with Dorsey Burnette the songs, “From a Jack to a King” and “Hey, Little One,” in addition to writing the musical score to the film “The Secret of Sun Mountain,” his wife said. Gifford’s last appearance was in 1982 in Lake Tahoe.

He is survived by his wife of nine years; son Jimmi Billingsley of Virginia Beach, Va.; daughters Robin Wood of Nashville, Tenn., Sheri Kuntz of Rochester, Minn., and Tracy Gifford of Palmdale; step-daughters Julie Burke of Albuquerque, N.M., Kathy Butts of Louisville, Ky., and Cynthia Gifford of Bakersfield; mother, Ella Gifford of Lancaster; brother Paul Gifford of Salinas, Calif.; sister Marie Humphrey of Albuquerque; 11 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Private services have been held. Chapel of the Valley Mortuary in Palmdale handled the arrangements. Donations can be made in Gifford’s name to the American Heart Assn.