A few days ago, we all experienced one of those moments you never forget.
Where was I when I heard about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? In a 2nd grade classroom. A very solemn principal walked in to inform our teacher, who began sobbing.
Where was I when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated? In my family’s store. It was a Thursday night, near closing time. I was watching TV when NBC interrupted “Daniel Boone” with the news bulletin.
Where was I when Elvis Presley died? Doing some college homework in my bedroom. I turned on the radio, and every station was playing Elvis songs. I soon found out why.
On August 25, 2026, I was in the newsroom making small talk with a co-worker at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Our website supervisor suddenly blurted out, “Dolly Parton died.” Several of us responded, “What did you say?” Surely, he didn’t say what we thought he said. He repeated it, word for word. Almost in unison, we asked, “Are you sure? Where did you see that?” When the sad news was confirmed, we began sending reporters to Ringgold, Georgia and to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to cover various angles of the story. We knew Dolly had been ailing, but we never imagined a world without her.
The next morning, reality began to settle in as I watched the TV news coverage and read various online accounts of her life and death, as well as tributes ranging from regular folks to world leaders.
What made Dolly special? The singer Jelly Roll put it quite well on the night of her death, during his guest-host stint on the Jimmy Kimmel show. “Dolly Parton,” he said, “might be the last American that everyone liked.”
That may be an exaggeration, but not by much. I was struck by the reaction of my young co-workers, many of them barely out of college. “Dolly was like our ideal grandmother,” one of them told me. Another, fighting back tears, said, “My little niece has been getting books in the mail from Dolly ever since she was a baby.” “I love her Christmas movies,” a young reporter said. “I’m just now learning about all the songs she wrote. She was amazing.”
Those of us who have followed Dolly since her “girl singer” days on Porter Wagoner’s show have a deeper appreciation of her career. We saw her blossom in movies like “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias. We enjoyed watching her trade quips with Johnny Carson and David Letterman. The late-night hosts took good-natured jabs at her wigs and her hourglass figure. Unlike some celebrities who can’t take a joke, Dolly laughed and responded with some one-liners of her own. “Y’all have no idea,” she would say, “how much money it costs me to look this cheap!” And we watched with admiration as this country girl opened the theme park of her dreams, creating a billion-dollar empire that fueled her philanthropy.
Why did everyone love Dolly? Some might say, “Well, she didn’t take sides politically.” That’s true, up to a point. If you really paid attention when she spoke, and how she shared her fortune, you knew what she stood for. Diversity, equality, fairness, compassion, and acceptance. She had strong views, but didn’t force them on anyone.
Early in the COVID-19 outbreak, she spent $1 million of her own money to advance the development of the Moderna vaccine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It wasn’t widely publicized at the time, but she certainly deserves part of the credit for helping save many lives.
When asked why she had collaborated with ultra-conservative singer Kid Rock on a song, Dolly’s response was just what you would expect from a decent human being. “I don’t condemn or criticize. I just accept and love.” Try to imagine any political candidate saying those words in our current environment.
It’s now a post-Dolly world. Are there any other celebrities who lift and inspire people like Dolly did? Could anyone else elicit the outpouring of love we saw in the aftermath of Dolly’s death? My email is RadioTV2020@yahoo.com. I’ll share your thoughts, and mine, in an upcoming column.
