Dolly Parton appears at an event to celebrate the expansion of the Imagination Library of Kentucky at the Lyric Theatre in Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 27, 2024. She’s on our wish list for concerts at the Coca-Cola Amphitheater in Birmingham, Alabama.(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
Carl Dean, country music icon Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, died Monday in Nashville. He was 82.
Parton announced the news on Instagram in a post on Monday evening.
“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.”
Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony for immediate family. The family has asked for privacy during this time, Parton’s statement read.
Parton’s publicist confirmed the news of Dean’s passing to The Associated Press.
Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18, reports AP.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton described the meeting. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
The pair married in 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia.
Dean, who was born in Nashville in 1942, was one of three children born to Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean.
Not much is known about Carl Dean’s personal life. Parton kept her marriage with Dean, who was a businessman, mostly private.
Dean occasionally offered rare public statements about their relationship, including a 2016 reflection on their marriage published in Entertainment Tonight.
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.”
Parton and Dean renewed their wedding vows for their 50-year anniversary during a private ceremony in Nashville.
In 2021, Parton reflected on their decades together during an interview with People Magazine.
“My husband and I, we’ve been together 56 years,” Parton said. “But we still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there’s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he’ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that’s priceless.”
Dean is survived by Parton and his siblings Sandra and Danny.
