LUBBOCK, Texas—The sister of rock ’n’ roll legend Buddy Holly has died.

Patricia Lou Holley Kaiter, Holly’s only sister, died Sept. 25, the funeral home handling arrangements confirmed. She was 79.

Holly, who changed the spelling of his last name after a recording contract left out the ‘e,’ was killed Feb. 3, 1959, in a plane crash in Iowa that also claimed singers Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. Holly was 22.

Kaiter kept the memory of the youngest of her three brothers, alive, said her daughter.

“She remembered him more, not as a musician, but as her little brother,” Ingrid Holley Kaiter said.

Despite his short career, Holly wrote several legendary songs, including “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be The Day” and “Maybe Baby.”

Holly would have turned 72 on his birthday Sept. 7.