On February 27, 1980, the long-lost glasses of rock legend
Buddy Holly, who died in the deadly plane crash in 1959,
were found—filed away in an envelope in a court clerk’s
office.
When the Beechcraft Bonanza carrying Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed outside
Clear Lake, Iowa, in the early morning hours of
February 3, 1959, it struck the ground with such
force that all three passengers were killed instantly,
and the plane’s wreckage was strewn across nearly
300 yards of snow-covered cornfields.
The death certificate issued by the Cerro Gordo County
Coroner noted the clothing Holly was wearing, the
presence of a leather suitcase near his body and the
following personal effects:
Charles Holley
Cash $193.00 less $11.65 coroner’s fees – $181.35
2 Cuff links, silver 1/2 in. balls having jeweled band
Top portion of ball point pen
Notably missing from the list were Holly’s signature
eyeglasses, the most distinctive visual legacy of a
man who influenced the sound and style of rock and
roll immeasurably.
Those famous glasses were presumed lost forever
until the announcement in late February of 1980,
that they had resurfaced in Mason City, Iowa when
an envelope was opened by Sheriff Jerry
Allen on this day in 1980. The glasses were
eventually returned to Holly’s widow. .
