Chisai Childs, a true founder to the Branson entertainment industry, passed away yestarday. I met her a couple of times at events.. Amazing lady.. Hard to believe 1 person, could make that much impact on a town.
I copied this from Bill Brook's FB page
""One Saturday afternoon in 1980 we showed up at the Grapevine Opry for rehearsal. Chisai Childs announced that she had sold the Opry theater in Grapevine TX and had bought a theater in a little town called Branson, MO. She also announced that ALL OF US were moving to Branson. Everybody but the Brooks Brothers Almost Famous Band made the move. Shoji Tabuchi, Doug Gabriel, The Masters Four (The Texans), The Grapevine Opry Kids (Texas Goldminers), and a bunch more. Little did we know that Chisai would single handedly change the face of Branson and it would ultimately become the Live Entertainment Capital of the World. She talked Stars into coming to Branson and stars were born out of that group who moved with her. Chisai was one of a kind. Full of surprises and totally non predictable. That is what made her "Chisai". She never got the credit she deserved. May she rest in peace.""
More info on Chisai from Hometown Daily:
http://www.hometowndailynews.com/2017/03/02/longtime-branson-visionary-and-entertainer-passes/
Wow, what an impact one person made. Going to be a lot of people missing her. Never got to meet her, but I know many she's touched and affected. Prayers for comfort and peace to all who knew her.
It's interesting to look back through history and see the lynch pins that made everything click. Branson would have been a lot less interesting over the last few decades without Chisai.