Multi-Grammy-winning country singer June Carter was born on this day in 1929. The following letters1 can be found in Letters of Note: Love.

Country singer songwriter June Carter Cash sits backstage at the Grand Ole Opry circa 1951 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bob Grannis/Getty Images)

Country singers June Carter and Johnny Cash first crossed each other’s paths at a gig in 1956, and, despite Cash already being married, the connection was instant. Cash proposed to Carter on more than one occasion, to no avail, but on 1 March 1968, thirteen years after first meeting and just a week after he proposed to her on stage during a concert, they finally married, remaining together until her death thirty-five years later. In 1994, on the occasion of June’s sixty-fifth birthday, Johnny wrote her a letter. Nine years later, shortly after her death, Cash wrote another note.

June 23 1994
Odense, Denmark.
Happy Birthday Princess,
We get old and get use to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted.
But once in awhile, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much.
Happy Birthday Princess.
John

July 11 2003
Noon
I love June Carter, I do. Yes I do. I love June Carter I do. And she loves me.
But now she’s an angel and I’m not. Now she’s an angel and I’m not.

1

To be clear: the text of these letters can be found in Letters of Note: Love, but not the images.

You’re the object of my desire, the #1…