There she is tonight – a big, golden moon rising over the ridges, soft and luminous against the fading sky. Badger’s calling her the Dolly Moon.
As a native East Tennessean with my own deep ties to Sevier County, I felt the loss of Dolly Parton today in a personal way.
Years ago, I met her at a Pittman Center event not far from the little cabin where she was born. What stayed with me most wasn’t the fame or the rhinestones but rather her smile. A warm, genuine, and completely unguarded smile. The kind of smile that makes you feel like you’ve known her all your life.
Dolly rose from her Smoky Mountain roots to become a worldwide star, yet she never stopped loving the place and the people who shaped her.
Hollywood and Dollywood, of course, and, to my liking, her Imagination Library were hallmarks of her boundless talent and concomitant generosity. There was a fierce pride in who she was, and she possessed a heart that somehow stretched from the hollers of Southern Appalachia to fans on every continent.
Tonight, the moon looks a little like her – bright, generous, welcoming, and impossible to ignore. Rest easy, Dolly. That smile is your legacy, and your memory will light up the heavens and our mountain home forever.
Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean – January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026
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