“I kind of forgot she was a real person. I didn’t think she could ever die,” said my 16-year-old daughter about the passing of Dolly Parton.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library books were delivered monthly to my Knoxville, Tennessee, home for 15 years, between my four daughters, starting in 2005.
Living in Knoxville was never part of our plan. When my husband got a job offer here, we planned to stay two years, or until we paid off his student loans from two graduate degrees. But East Tennessee has a way of keeping people here. People who grow up here don’t leave, and many students who come for the University of Tennessee remain here, a Vol for life.
I’m not a football fan, but I’m a big fan of Dolly Parton. How could you not be?
I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, my parents were from Detroit, and one grandma flew the coop for permanent snowbird residence in South Florida. Tennessee was just a state we crossed over, visiting family “up north.” So, I never felt like any place was home. I could have been a traveling gypsy.
Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would live in East Tennessee. As my memory recalled from side trips off I-75, there was Gatlinburg, Smokey Bear, and Dolly Parton, known for her country glam and big boobs. But life is a surprise party, and here we are. Not leaving.
On a solo road trip through Tennessee along the French Broad River, about the time my fourth daughter aged out of getting monthly books from Dolly, I was listening to the podcast, Dolly Parton’s America, I decided to call East Tennessee my home because of Dolly Parton. She represents a heart for humanity, creative freedom, and acceptance of all.
I knew Dolly would eventually die, and as a writer, every time I watched another one of her recorded health updates, I thought, journalists should be preparing their stories. Just in case she passes. My husband said on several occasions, “It’s going to be a sad day in East Tennessee when Dolly dies. What will people do?“
I was in Indonesia, staying on a small scuba dive boat with no Wi-Fi, when the news broke. Once I had enough phone service to scroll, it was hard to stop taking in the outpouring of love for Dolly happening around the world and reading news stories that really got it right, like the piece in The Atlantic, “We’re Living in the World Dolly Parton Built.”
Dolly Parton is the original girl boss of the music industry. Till the day she died, she was undoubtedly herself, a living example of being a girl boss till the end, a true philanthropic soul funding science, supporting education, while creating new rides at Dollywood, and reminding people she loves everybody, and everyone should be treated equally. Her very last public appearance was opening a truck stop, all dazzled up in rhinestones, offering cups of ambition from the coffee shop.
Sometimes while traveling the world, when people ask where I’m from, I reply, “Tennessee. Where Dolly Parton is from. Do you know her?” My family thinks it’s silly. My teens give me the mom look, like, who is going to know Dolly in Eastern Europe? But you would be surprised. One guy who didn’t speak much English, in Bosnia, humorously mimed boobs with his two hands at his chest. Yes. He was not wrong.
Days after her passing, the internet became flooded with positive stories sharing kindness and the best of Dolly for the world to know. Living in East Tennessee, we already knew all of this. But it sure is nice for the world to see.
Dolly avoided talking politics publicly, instead she changed the subject by saying she wishes all politicians just did the right things and a good job. I try not to dwell on the politics in my state, because let’s just say, the legislature here doesn’t usually match Dolly’s freewill thinking. And I’d rather focus on the positive things that keep us here.
The positive influence that Dolly Parton has had on the local people of East Tennessee and the world makes it easier to say, “I’m from East Tennessee, with Dolly Parton.”
The last episode of Dolly Parton’s America, titled “She’s Alive,” wraps up with Jad Abumrad asking her what happens next. Dolly says she’s going to be playing in the Angel Band and ended with, “If nothing else, we can go back into that divine energy and hopefully we can spread ourselves around in wonderful ways.”
I hope so, Dolly. May you rest in peace and play more music.