He Died Of Congestive Heart Failure After A Four-Year Battle With The Disease
The hard-drinking Doolittle died at home on August 22, 1996. He had been hospitalized repeatedly since 1993 because of diabetes and heart failure. His feet were also amputated in recent years.
Doo was 69 years old when he passed away and was married to Loretta for almost 50 years. Though what they have was a combative marriage, it was an enduring one. In 2018, Loretta released the title track of her forty-fifth solo studio album, “Wouldn’t It Be Great?”
It’s the last song the country superstar wrote for Doo and found herself wishing to hear one last “I love you” from her man.
“My husband liked to drink a lot, and that’s where that song comes from. ‘Say you love me just one time, with a sober mind,’” she explained. “I always liked that song, but I never liked to sing it around Doo.”
“I sang it to him when he was dying,” Loretta revealed.
