Dolly Parton is in mourning.
The country superstar, 79, has lost her husband, Carl Dean, whom she was married to for nearly 60 years. He died on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 82.
Dean’s passing was revealed on Parton’s Instagram moments ago.
Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Thomas Dean. dollyparton/Instagram
Dolly Parton’s message about her husband’s death. dollyparton/Instagram
“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,” the post stated.
The “I Will Always Love You” singer included a few words of her own.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” her message read. “The family asks for privacy during this difficult time.”
His cause of death has not been disclosed.
Dean’s passing was revealed on Parton’s Instagram on Monday. dollyparton/Instagram
Dean was born in Nashville in 1942 to Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean; however, not much is known about his life before Parton.
The “9 to 5” songstress met her husband at a Wishy Washy Laundromat at 18.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton shared about their meet cute. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
They said “I do” two years later, on May 30, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia.
Dolly Parton plays guitar onstage in 1974. Michael Ochs Archives
The singer performing on tour in Chicago, circa 2016. Getty Images
Parton kept her relationship with Dean, who owned an asphalt-paving business, tight to her chest, rarely discussing their marriage in public. However, she did drop little nuggets about her husband over the years.
“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” she told The New York Times in 1976 about the first time she met Dean. “I was in such a hurry to get here. And after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”
But Parton played hard to get.
Parton performs in 1976. Redferns
Parton speaks onstage at the 53rd Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala. Getty Images
“I wouldn’t go out with him. I mean, that was somethin’ we was taught. You gotta know somebody or they may take you on a back road and kill you. But I said, ‘You’re welcome to come up to the house tomorrow because I’m babysittin’ my little nephew,’” the Grammy winner shared of their courtship. “Dean came over every day that week, and the first time they went out together, he took her to meet his parents.”
She once joked that some people didn’t believe he was real because he stayed out of the public eye.
“A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me,” she told the Associated Press in 1984.
The star also teased that she wanted to pose with him for a magazine cover “so that people could at least know that I’m not married to a wart or something.”
Parton attends the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Parton once joked that some people didn’t believe her husband was real because he stayed out of the public eye. Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images
Dean once gave an interview to Entertainment Tonight, telling the outlet in 2016, “My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’” And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
Despite shying away from the spotlight, Dean inspired one of Parton’s most beloved songs, “Jolene.”
The country singer shared the meaning behind the song, making it clear that the “real” Jolene wasn’t trying to “take” her man but was flirtatious with him at the bank.
Dolly Parton speaks during “Dolly: An Original Musical” fireside chat. Getty Images
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
While she never won a Grammy for “Jolene,” the tune did earn her two gramophone nominations. It was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Parton and Dean never had any children. She later reflected on that decision.
“I would have been a great mother, I think. I would probably have given up everything else. Because I would’ve felt guilty about that, if I’d have left them [to work, to tour]. Everything would have changed. I probably wouldn’t have been a star,” Parton told The Guardian.
