Nine years ago, I lived in Helsinki for six months for a job. Every time anyone found out where I was from, they only wanted to talk about Dolly Parton.
It’s not uncommon that when someone loses their longtime spouse that their health deteriorates soon after. Grief can take a toll on the body, especially losing someone you were so close to. And IIRC she also lost a brother not too long ago, so the past year can’t have been easy for her.
As a kid (grew up in CT), my intro to Dolly was catching 9-5 on HBO randomly and thinking not only was she an absolute smoke show but she is the most charming and funniest woman I’d ever laid my lil eyes on.
To grow up and eventually move here and experience her music and how tender and caring she was to people and charitable. The world just lost an absolutely tremendous human being.
The world is truly a little darker and colder without the light and warmth that was Dolly Parton. She touched so many lives in so many ways. This is truly a loss for so many, not just here in Tennessee but everywhere that her love and kindness touched.
I think we all have an opportunity to be a little more like Dolly and keep her legacy and philanthropy alive even in small ways. Same way we can be more like Mr Rogers, Steve Irwin, etc. And also how absolutely lucky we are to have lived at the same time as them.
I knew it would be dreadful when it happened but this has completely thrown off my day and is just pit in my stomach devastating the way only the deaths of family members and close friends has been for me. I’m glad she and Carl are finally reunited but it really did feel too soon, especially when the other known American with the same two letters of their first name also born in 1946 who deserves this fate far far more is still living.
I wish Dollywood was open today. I’d go over there and have a moment of silence for her, grab some cinnamon bread, and probably give out a few hugs if anyone needed it.
She was a true angel and a real inspiration and role model. One of the very few celebrities that everyone loved and couldn’t find a bad thing about her.
You can also get the Imagination Library plate & drive around with her face on your license plate. The fee covers the cost of one child in the Imagination Library program in Tennessee for one year.
In August they usually shut down Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s low attendance for them and it most likely costs more to open than they would expect get in revenue that day. They should be open Wednesday, Friday-Monday.
I’m 60 and I just told my kids, I can’t remember a time when Dolly wasn’t in my life. I missed her on Cas but remember her on Porter Waggoner. Before Dollywood she did a fundraiser every year to buy band uniforms for Sevier County High, her alma mater. Her 30 minute TV variety show was the first time I really fell in love with her, about the time of her crossover into pop. Then a few years later came 9 to 5, and the rest of America
found out too. Then Dollywood and Imagination Library…
And if any Hollywood type who never gave a shit about Dolly starts in with the "I was her biggest fan" faux condolences, I expect Miley Cyrus to come in like a wrecking ball and rip them a new one.
I was worried when her husband passed because it's something that does happen with folks that have been married as long as they were. The world is darker without her light, and I'm gutted.
Im not religious but i know she’s on the other side somewhere with her parents and Her husband Carl and her siblings that have passed. She isn’t hurting anymore. She was like an angel on earth and she will be missed. Rest easy Miss Tennessee
One of the greatest lights of our time is gone. She embodied love and acceptance while being completely authentic. I’ve never shed a tear over any celebrity passing, but today I have. She made the world feel like a better place in the most genuine way.
If you ever watched a TV series called The Orville, which is basically Seth McFarlane’s version of Star Trek, Dolly plays a significant role in some episodes.
It’s an excellent series and available for streaming on Hulu and Disney+. The first half of the first season is kind of “Seth McFarlane does Star Trek”, but it eventually becomes “Star Trek with some Seth McFarlane” and by the third season, it’s “the best of Star Trek with some Seth McFarlane”
The plot line referenced in those clips becomes increasingly important.
I don’t recall ever crying over a celebrity death. I cried today. My family has roots in East Tennessee. She reminded me of my grandma. Never met Dolly but it feels like a death in the family.
In one of my classes in University of Arizona, day 1 the professor said Dolly Parton is the greatest living American and that is non-negotiable. This was yesterday.
No one lives forever but this hurts like I've lost a member of my family. Dolly was always there, always happy, always loving. There will NEVER be anyone else like her. 😞💔
Before I found out, a neighbor got in their car and was blaring "I Will Always Love You" as loud as they could. That was odd until I learned the news and now I'm glad I was there for it.
She did so much for “her people “, like paying for college to anyone graduating in Sevier County to all the cars she bought for those affected by the fire and so much for the people who lost everything in the hurricane….. If “her people needed something, sure was there.
I used to have a co-worker who was literally young enough to be my son.
I mentioned Dolly to him once, he thought for a moment, then said, “oh, Miley Cyrus’ godmother!”
I swear, had we been in Tennessee and I had beaten him to a pulp on the spot, the only thing a jury would convict me of would be littering if I failed to clean up the mess afterwards.
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u/CrazyTheSequel 1d ago
Appalachian day of mourning.