I don't have anything funny. Source: https://variety.com/2026/music/news/dolly-parton-dead-dies-country-music-1236842727/
I'm not what you'd call a big celebrity person, though I do have my own favorites (mostly Star Trek actors), but Dolly was a real one. She grew up poor, knew what it was like to struggle to eat and have clothing, to have safe shelter. She never lost it, never lost that connection, because she poured so much of her wealth into uplifting the poor and needy, she stepped in and committed herself to doing great things for others when she could have made a token gesture or looked away. Hell, half the literacy rate in this country is probably due to her book club alone. Dolly was the real deal, and it's a darker day now that she's gone.
One of the sweetest and most wonderful women I've ever met. We all knew it would come, but the world is a darker place without her in it.
I would have gone with "Jolene, Jolene, you took my life away" Sad that she's gone, she did a lot of good to help others. Personally though, I never cared much for her music or the celebrity side of her. Hopefully all the humanitarian efforts she started will continue.
VERY briefly. She made an appearance at Ft. Bragg when I was in, and I was one of her escorts out to her ride afterwards and she hugged each of us. Late 1988 or early 1989. I can't remember. She smelled like honey.
Ya know, I feel ya. She was always there in my life. I watched the Porter Wagoner Show as a kid. Saw the movies. Music on the radio. Records. The works. Like I said before, we all "knew" it was coming sooner or later, but I felt like a reliable hunk of my life went missing today. She was like that one aunt you always loved to see coming.
Having lived in and around Nashville for five decades now, you often hear things about country music stars. Sometimes, they're good stories, sometimes they're bad. You can't always know which ones are true and which ones are false. However, you can get an inkling about ones that are the most plausible. I will say that none of the ones I heard about Dolly would generally be considered to besmirch her reputation, but would give her a complicated legacy.
A former coworker and longtime friend shared on Facebook today that about 50 years ago, she, her parents, and infant brother were on a plane trip and happened to be seated near Dolly, who offered to hold the baby while my friend's parents ate their meal and then she kept holding the boy until it was time to land. In the post she included a photo of her little brother being bottle-fed by Dolly.
I've thought about it for over a day now. It seems to me that the singular thread to pretty much every universally loved figure - as few as they are - is that they were unfailingly KIND. Not just polite or considerate, but aggressively, assertively, boldly, KIND.
