Late singer/actress Rosemary Clooney’s old Kentucky home could soon be turned into a museum displaying memorabilia from her singing career under a plan proposed by her one-time neighbor, former Miss America Heather French Henry.
Henry and her husband, former Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, said they plan to buy the Augusta home within the next two weeks, renovate it for use as a public museum and also live in it part-time with their two children.
The two-story brick home was built in 1835 along the Ohio River. Clooney bought it in 1980 and lived there when she wasn’t on the road performing or at her main residence in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Heather French Henry grew up just three blocks away before moving to Maysville and said Clooney served as a mentor to her when she was Miss America 2000. “Augusta and Maysville were the only places where we could get away and breathe,” Henry said. “I would like my children to get what I got from Augusta.”
The couple is soliciting help for their cause via a Web site dedicated to house, RosemaryClooneyhouse.com. Along with cash donations, they are seeking volunteers and memorabilia.
Clooney, a Maysville native and the aunt of actor George Clooney, scored hits in the ’50s including “Come On-a My House” and enjoyed a resurgence of popularity late in life that resulted in four Grammy award nominations. She was 74 when she died of lung cancer in 2002. 
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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