A woman whose late mother was an Alan Jackson superfan is hoping to fulfill an unusual request on her mother's behalf. The Sun Journal reports that Sue Castle, who lives in Gardiner, Maine, flew to Nashville on Tuesday (Oct. 11) in the hope of getting to spread her mother's ashes at Jackson's home.
According to Maine country station B98.5, Castle's mother, Mary Anne “Marie” Gallant, was such a massive fan of Jackson's that she had his likeness tattooed on her back. That caught Jackson's eye at a 2015 concert in Portland, and the country superstar invited her to watch the concert from the stage, where he proceeded to dance with her during "Remember When."
Gallant later recalled that as the happiest night of her life, and she expressed her wish to have her ashes spread at Jackson's home prior to her death in 2021 at the age of 80. Castle is now trying to make that wish come true, but as she tells Central Maine, she doesn't have a set plan for how to get it done. She envisions possibly dropping her mother's ashes from a helicopter, throwing them over a fence or maybe just “out the window as I'm driving by," though she says that ideally, she'd like to secure permission to spread her mom's ashes according to her wishes.
Castle says her mother saw Jackson in concert two dozen times, had vanity license plates that announced her love for his music and even had a cardboard cutout of Jackson, which she took with her to various hospital rooms as she battled cancer in her final years.
She tells Central Maine that if she got the chance, she'd tell Jackson, “Thank you for giving my mom the best day of her life," as well as so much joy over the years.
Castle is planning to spend four days in Nashville as she attempts to make her mother's final wish come true.
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