The World Will Miss This One-of-a-Kind Lady.
Op-ed submitted by Kat Stansell (Independent Journalist and Earnest Patriot) –
Dolly Parton was born in the one-room cabin, pictured above, in the hills of Pittman Center, TN. She shared this home with her mother, father and 11 siblings. From these simple beginnings, she amassed a fortune of approximately $650 million. and died deeply loved and respected.
She did it with love and kindness as her motive forces . She learned these from that family, crowded together on that mountain.
Dolly was around six when she wrote her first song: “Little Tiny Tasseltop,” an ode to her corncob doll with corn-silk hair. Her mother saved Tasseltop in a shoebox for posterity.
“I loved that little doll,” Parton wrote decades later. “I expressed myself and my feelings through writing – I’m sure what I was thinking was, ‘Well, Tasseltop has to have a song about her.’”
After her ode to Tasseltop, Dolly never stopped writing music.
Her world-famous theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, TN, is just 11 miles up the road from her birthplace. It employs 1400 people, worldwide, with a significant portion being locals.
She created Dollywood because she just wanted folks to have some fun. That is who she was.
When a deadly wildfire swept through the Smokies in 2016, Dolly held an all-star telethon, the proceeds from which, she utilized to set up a foundation that sent monthly checks to residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
In 2024, when Hurricane Helene was sent to devastate eastern TN and Western NC, Dolly wept. Then she turned Dollywood into a supply depot for what the victims desperately needed. She donated $1 million of her personal money, and another $1 million from her businesses. “I grew up in these mountains”, she said, and I cannot let these people suffer.
She also started an education non-profit, Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who had quit school to work on the farm, had to struggle to learn to read as an adult.
In addition to her singing career, Parton was known for her roles in films like “9 to 5,” for which she wrote and sang the Academy Award-nominated theme song, and “Steel Magnolias.”
She’s also been cited for her contributions to the arts and culture world, and had earned various awards and honors outside of Hollywood.
Parton was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2004, “for her enrichment of the American cultural heritage.” In 2005 she received the U.S. government’s National Medal of Arts, and in 2006, she was honored at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., for a lifetime of artistic achievement.
She sold over 100 million records and won 11 Grammy Awards, making her one of the top-selling performers of all time during a career that spanned more than 60 years.
Dolly Parton was also an author of some renown. Her best-selling autobiography, “Dolly: My Life and other Unfinished Business”, was followed by a thriller she wrote with James Patterson, “Run, Rose, Run”, about a young country singer with a mysterious background.
Dolly was married to the same man, Carl Dean, for 60 years. He died last spring, and she watched over him until he was gone. She had ignored her own health, it is said, to care for him as his end neared.
Sadly, Dolly’s life is now finished business, but she is with her man, and she will have to “run” no more.
Parton’s family announced her death in a video statement from her nephew Bryan Seaver, who had been her director of security for 20 years. No cause of death was provided.
Dolly Parton’s charisma, lyrics from the heart, and business acumen, caught the public’s attention and praise, for nearly six decades.
Our President praised her in a social media post, saying that, “ this is a true loss for millions of people, . . .There has never been anyone like her, and never will.” He has ordered flags flown at half staff for one week, to honor this amazing American.
She loved everyone. It always showed, too, in her face, words and deeds. Dolly Parton was a truly rare human being, and she will be mourned and missed by millions.
Dolly did not “do” politics, on purpose. She loved everyone on both sides.
I just finished bringing my flag down to half staff, and hope you all do the same. This is one American who richly deserves the honor.
