By Janet Karim
“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.” — Acts 1:9–12,
Social media was on fire on Tuesday August 25, 2026 when family announced the death of America’s leading country music legend Dolly Paton. According to Country music icon’s nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, who shared the news in a video posted to her social media accounts, Dolly Parton was age 80. He informed news media forums that posting the information on social media was something the late musician had asked him to do years ago. In recent months, the music icon is reported to have been dealing with undisclosed health issues for some time, including kidney stones and other ailments, and on multiple tour dates and events in recent months, these led her to cancel appearances.
Parton whose husband of 60 years Carl Dean) died last year, is said to have died peacefully in her home in Nashville, Tennessee. The widespread tributes, tell of a cultural icon whose influence extended far beyond country music.
Immediately the news was made of her passing, people from all walks of life started pouring in their shocked reactions. I watched and read the reactions, and it was easy to see that the musician, who also had several movie appearances, had a surprisingly large black and young group of followers that formed part of the large mourners. Why not, I was one of them.
Growing up in the 1960, Paton’s rise to fame and popularity was our daily intake along with the rise of the Motown revolutions coming out of Detroit. Since coming onto the country music platform, Dolly also entered in Hollywood set. She will be remembered for among others, her life of music, acting and philanthropy.
On the music scene, her music greats include 50 albums that sold over 100-160 million records around the world. Her 1967 entry was Hello, I’m Dolly. She was also a songwriter with hits like “Jolene,” “I will always love you” (that was made popular by Whitney Houston), and “9 to 5” (the hit song that was also part of the movie with the same name. Another film that she stared in was Steel Magnolias, beside Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts.
She championed women’s empowerment and the LGBTQ+ community. However, she was a keen philanthropist who founded Dollywood theme park in 1986. This was through the Dollywood Foundation.
In remembered her life’s work, her nephew said of the late Dolly Paton as someone who “farmed songs and happiness” and who “opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers.”
For her work Dolly Parton is also remembered as “one of the most famous musicians on the planet, she was beloved across political and social divides: a self-made country music star and committed Christian who never forgot her Southern roots while championing LGBTQ rights, pouring money into childhood literacy programs and helping to fund a Covid vaccine.”
She grew up in a poor southern Christian family, really “dirt poor,” was the fourth of 12 children; Parton started singing in the local church at the age of six. When she adopted her “tramp model, she drew protestations from her father and when she modeled her iconic look after “the town tramp” she got a beating from her grandfather, who was a preacher.
Parton once said of her desire to look cheap and when her Mom had told her that the woman she admired was “…just trash,” her response was “That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Trash.” She maintained the larger-than-life image until her death. She was often heard quipping: “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.”
Parton did not have any children of her own. In a 2020 interview with The Oprah Conversation, she said, “I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine, so I could do things like Imagination Library.”
May her soul rest in God’s eternal loving peace.
