Troy Gentry’s Widow Recalls His Selfless Gesture for a Homeless Man in Need
Tracy Lawrence and Justin Moore were among the many country artists who gathered on Feb. 5 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville to remember one their late friend, Troy Gentry.
The Montgomery Gentry star died in a helicopter crash in 2017. Gentry was remembered through various stories during the evening, with one of the more touching and heartfelt stories coming from Gentry's window, Angie.
"He was a really good guy with a really big heart," Angie Gentry tells the Boot. "He had a lot of friends. He didn't know a stranger, and he was willing to stick his neck out for others. He'd give you the shirt off his back."
In one such case, Gentry did exactly that.
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Angie recalled when Troy earned his first tour jacket — "a big, leather tour jacket from [Montgomery Gentry's record label], Sony" — during one of Montgomery Gentry's first headlining tours.
He "had just gotten it," Angie recounts, when he walked past a homeless man in downtown Nashville.
"It was cold, and [Troy] walked by and he couldn't stand it, so he turns around and takes his first tour jacket that he ever got in Nashville and gives it to a homeless guy," she says.
While Angie was not with Troy when he gave the jacket away, he later explained to her where it had gone. "He's like, 'The guy's cold and I have a coat, and I can get another coat and that guy didn't have a coat," she remembers.
Troy Gentry was often kind to those who were less fortunate, according to his wife. "Anything he could do to help somebody, he was more than willing," Angie adds. "You know the guys who sit at the end of the interstate and wash the windows and beg for spare change? Any time he was in the car, whatever he had on him, he rolled the window down and he'd hand it to them. He was like, 'I'm not sure what they're doing with it, but they need it more than I do.'"
Proceeds from the second-annual C'Ya on the Flipside benefit concert at the Opry House went to support the Troy Gentry Foundation.
"I think about him and what he would think if he were here," Angie shares, "and I think he would just be flabbergasted at all the friends and people that have come to show up and support the organization with his name on it."
The Troy Gentry Foundation's mission is to assist military families, families in need, financial support to organizations that conduct cancer research and to help provide music education for generations to come. More information on the organization and ways to donate can be found on their official website.
Country Singers Remember Troy Gentry