Bill Friskics-Warren for The New York Times:
Her death was announced in a video posted on social media by her nephew Bryan Seaver. No cause was provided. Concerns about Ms. Parton’s health were raised last year as she postponed and later canceled a Las Vegas residency, and intensified to the point that she took to social media in October to announce, “I ain’t dead yet.”This May, she said that she had responded well to treatment after her immune and digestive systems had, as she put it, “got all out of whack” in recent years.
From her hardscrabble beginnings to glittering stardom, Ms. Parton’s life was the stuff of make-believe. With her voluptuous figure, sparkly stage costumes and blond bouffant wigs, she was likened by the writer Chet Flippo to the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the Depression-era symbol of abundance. Her songs spoke to millions, confronting privation and loss even as they radiated possibility and hope.
She was, quintessentially, a uniter of people. In 2019, The New York Times ran a story with the headline “Is There Anything We Can All Agree On? Yes: Dolly Parton.”
Hillary Clinton, on Threads:
Dolly Parton did all the good she could, for all the people she could, for as long as ever she could.
From her legendary songwriting to the Imagination Library — which sent 1 million books a month to children across the country — she was the best of America.
Dolly, we’ll miss your great heart.
Parton accomplished so many great things, but man, the Imagination Library is just hard to believe. They’ve distributed over 330 million books to children — and counting. In lieu of flowers or anything else, her family is requesting that any money you might want to contribute to show your appreciation be donated to the library. Count me in.
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