Dolly Parton’s husband Carl Dean passes away at 82

Carl Thomas Dean, the husband of Dolly Parton has passed away aged 82, Parton confirmed the news on her Instagram account earlier on Tuesday.

Parton shared the news on social media writing: “Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82.

The couple were married for 58 years, with Dean remaining largely out of the public eye despite Parton’s immense fame.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” Parton shared in a heartfelt post on X.

The singer-songwriter and actor met Dean in 1964 outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee on the day she moved to the country music capital.

She was 18 and he was 21. “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” said the “Jolene” singer, known for her glamour and gravity-defying hairdos, according to a post on her website.

“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about,” she added.
The pair married two years later in May 1966 in a simple ceremony attended only by Parton’s mother, the preacher and his wife. The low-key wedding was a fitting start for the couple’s 58-year marriage

Dean was born in 1942 to Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean and Virginia “Ginny” Bates — whom Parton affectionately referred to as Mama Dean and said she was her best friend, according to the singer’s website. A Nashville native, Dean worked as an asphalt paver while Parton’s career skyrocketed, earning her the title of the “Queen of Country Music.” Despite her global fame, the couple embraced a quiet, simple life together.

“We like to get out in our little RV and just be simple,” Parton told People magazine in 2015. “I love to read, I love to cook, I love to be with my husband.”

Although they never had children, the two built a life filled with love and companionship.

She has often spoken about it in her interviews. In 2017, she told Today that it was part of God’s plans. “God has a plan for everything. I think it probably was His plan for me not to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine. And they are now.”

In 2020, speaking with Oprah Winfrey, Parton said, “Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom. So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work.”

“He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.”