Mandrell's Brush With Death and Her Deep Faith

On the evening of September 11, 1984, Barbara had a major brush with death when a young driver's car drifted across the center line of a street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and crashed head-on with Barbara's car. Both cars were demolished, and the other driver was killed. Barbara suffered a severe concussion, a broken right leg, broken right ankle, damaged right knee and various cuts and bruises. Her son, Matt and daughter Jaime also suffered injuries. Only minutes before the crash, for some fateful reason, Barbara had suggested that Matt, Jaime and she should buckle-up. Until that moment, Barbara confesses she had not been a seatbelt user.

The accident had brought her skyrocketing career to an abrupt halt. There were months and months of physical pain and mental anguish. Many painful hours were spent in physical therapy, but the long, hard road to recuperation was finally in sight. Barbara debuted her first live performance since the September 1984 accident at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles on February 28, 1986.

Now a confirmed seatbelt advocate, she has completed a national Public Service Announcement available on audio, video, and poster, strongly urging the public to "Please, buckle up. You may never get a second chance". It can definitely be said that Barbara's brush with death influenced more people nationwide to start using seatbelts than any other person or campaign.

Blonde, blue-eyed, and standing five-feet-two, Barbara Mandrell reflects her strong faith and drive in her positive outlook on life. "If there's a decision to be made," she says, "I simply put it in God's hands...and things just begin to fall into place".

Perhaps that outlook helps to explain why Mandrell hands found seatbelts in September 1984.