Sandi Patty | George Bush 2004 GMA Hall of Fame message

Twenty years ago, on February 11, 2004, Sandi Patty, along with Vestal Goodman, Reverend Al Green, and BMI president Frances Preston were honored by being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. George Bush was gracious in creating this sweet message of love and admiration for Sandi to be shared at the ceremony.
Below is a news release from The Herald Bulletin of Anderson, Indiana where Sandi lived at the time.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The late Vestal Goodman, the Rev. Al Green, Sandi Patty and BMI president Frances Preston will become the newest members of the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame. The four will be honored at a Hall of Fame Awards show in Nashville Feb. 11. "The newest inductees for the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame exemplify the great diversity and history of Christian and gospel music," GMA President John W. Styll said in announcing the inductees Wednesday. "Their contributions to our culture have had a profound and lasting impact. "The GMA Hall of Fame has inducted 125 members since its inception in 1971, including Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Amy Grant, the Oak Ridge Boys, Billy Graham and the Jordanaires. Patty, of Anderson, Ind., is the most awarded female artist in the history of contemporary Christian music with 39 Dove Awards and five Grammy Awards. She has sold more than 11 million albums. "It has been an honor to share my journey with Christ through music for these many years, and to have the affirmation of my peers means so much," Patty said. Goodman, known as the "Queen of Gospel Music," died Dec. 27 at age 74 of complications from the flu. She had learned a few weeks before her death that the Hall of Fame was selecting her for induction. A founding member of the Happy Goodman Family, she was the first artist to receive a female vocalist of the year Dove Award, in 1969. Since then she has won several Doves and a Grammy Award. Goodman originally wanted to study for the Metropolitan Opera, but she stayed true to her church roots and devoted herself to gospel music. Upon learning of her pending induction, she said she was honored and proud "of all the diversified styles of music and all the people that gospel music has reached for Christ. "Green, who is also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, became a major soul music star in the 1970s but by the 1980s was concentrating on gospel music. From 1981 to \'89, he won seven gospel Grammy Awards. In 1976 he bought the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis and became an ordained pastor. "I acknowledge my voice as a gift from God and sharing it with others has been the joy of my life," Green said. Preston is the president and CEO of Broadcast Music Inc., a performance rights organization that collects license fees on behalf of songwriters when their music is played on radio, TV, the Internet, or is performed publicly. The GMA said her most prominent contributions have come through her "political vigilance when it comes to the rights and incomes of songwriters, composers and publishers." "Gospel music, in all its rich styles and traditions, is one of the cornerstones of American music," said Preston, a past president and chairwoman of the GMA. "It has evolved over the years into a form as easily acceptable to the pop audience as it is to the religious community."

[@miguelkennedy9520]

Sandi Patty’s music makes me smile 😊

[@jordanmicahcook]

Few people hold the distinction of having been the greatest singer on the face of the planet for a window of time. Voices like Luciano Pavarotti and David Phelps, so far beyond the norm that sometimes it's hard to believe they were actually human. Sandi Patty is one such voice. From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, there was no one to match her, even though Whitney Houston, in her own way, was matchless as well, I still have to say that of all the female voices I've ever heard, I believe Sandi Patty's may be the overall finest I have ever heard.

[@tiagoserafinministries]

Uawww.... Sandi is fantastic❤