The matriarch of country music

JO WALKER-MEADOR

Jo Walker-Meador, a matriarch of country music who led the Country Music Assn. for nearly three decades, has died. She was 93.

Walker-Meador died Tuesday in Nashville, the CMA said.

She was an office manager when the CMA was created in 1958. She became executive director in 1962 and held that role until 1991.

During her tenure, the CMA launched a fundraiser for the Hall of Fame, started its annual awards show and began Fan Fair, the CMA Festival’s precursor.

She grew up near Orlinda, Tenn., and did secretarial work before becoming the CMA’s office manager and first paid employee.

“I knew nothing about country music,” WalkerMeador told CountryZone.net. “I knew that Minnie Pearl and Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff were members of the Grand Ole Opry — but I had never been to the Grand Ole Opry.”

She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995.

She is survived by a daughter, a brother and two stepchildren.