Most people in this area know the name of Curly Fox, "the most famous man to ever leave Rhea County," but his sister, Helen, could have joined the ranks with her brother too were it not for her circumstances.
    Curly Fox was one of the most prominent fiddle players in music history, according to Tom Morgan, Curly's long-time friend and folk music player.
    Curly played on the Grand Ole Opry in 1936, but not before his younger sister, Morgan said.
    Anna Helen Fox Cofer, born in 1916 to Eugene and Maggie Fox in Graysville, became one of the first women to play on the Grand Ole Opry without being accompanied by her husband, which was proper etiquette at the time.
    "She was in an early phase when there weren't that many women in the Opry," Morgan said. "Had she been able to stay, she probably would've gone into music history."
    While Curly Fox took up the fiddle after his father, who ran a barbershop in Graysville and played the fiddle himself, Helen opted to learn the guitar, a natural talent she picked up with ease.
    "She was a child prodigy; very accomplished at an early age," said Morgan.
    Helen got a taste for public performance in 1929 at Morgan Springs, where she played her guitar alongside her fiddle-playing brother at a square dance.
    "It was the first square dance I played, and my mother said it was okay if my Uncle Roy Gentry went along," Helen said during an interview for a Morgan Spring history booklet in 1986. "I don't remember how much we got paid, but there was a big crowd and we had a good time."
    Curly and Helen played at a fiddle competition at Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium in the 1920s as well, said Morgan.
    Later, Helen went on to play at the Grand Ole Opry as a member of Jim Sander's Ranch Girls band, followed by Curly Fox and his wife, Texas Ruby.
    Helen left the Ranch Girls band to take care of her family in Graysville, according to Morgan. Her husband passed away several decades ago, and until a few years ago, she lived in Graysville.
    "She very easily could have been as good a musician as Curly," said Morgan.
    After his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, Curly played for King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece in 1956 and took tours with his wife to Carnegie Hall in New York, Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., and other major concert halls in the U.S.
    He also won the National Fiddlers' Championship for 10 straight years, 1936-46.
His single, "Fire on the Mountain," was a country music best seller, and his rendition of "Black Mountain Rag" is considered to be the best bluegrass fiddle recording ever made.
    When Curly left the music industry in 1975, he moved back to Graysville until he passed away in 1995. It was during this time that he met and toured with Morgan and played on the Opry with him for a total of 12 years.
    Morgan and Alvin Hill, both of whom know Helen, recalled that Helen was a beautiful woman and that everyone liked her.
    "She was good to everybody," Hill said. "As a matter of fact, she was too good to some people."
    Morgan also remembered that Helen could find and serve some the best "poke salit" around.
    Helen now lives in the Harriman Care and Rehabilitation Center in Harriman, Tenn.
    "When I visited her in the nursing home, she told me, 'I try to keep walking, try to keep my strength up,'" said Morgan. "She has overcome a lot by having a positive attitude."
    Michelle Friesen can be reached at michelle.friesen@rheaheraldnews.com.