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Much has been written in recent days about Dolly Parton and her recent passing. What I have read has been appropriate, accurate and touching.
I never met Dolly Parton in person nor did I ever hear her perform in a live performance. But I do remember when I became aware of Dolly Parton and her music.
My first full time job was at our county seat radio station. I was the sign-on guy and my duties included hosting a one-hour country music program immediately after the 6 a.m. sign-on news. Country music was not yet the red-hot music genre it is today; many folks considered it hillbilly music.
However, I liked country music and enjoyed being a country music DJ. Early-on I recognized Dolly Parton as the "girl singer" on Porter Wagoner's television show. The big-hair blonde's voice seemed a little high and thin compared to other female country artists of the day but, oh, could she sing.
Dolly released nearly 20 singles before reaching the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in February 1971 with her recording of Joshua. Her name and fame exploded from there.
Dolly was the star of an ABC television show of the same name in the late 1980s. By now she was also a movie star.
I was working at the Sioux City Journal at the time the Dolly Show was on the air. The Journal's entertainment editor had recently conducted interviews with entertainers in Los Angeles and brought home a life-size photographic cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton. He set up the cardboard cutout in The Journal's newsroom.
Around that time The Journal hosted a group of men from Finland who were executives in a Finnish newsprint production plant. The management team gave the Finns a tour of our plant and we shared a lunch in the conference room. Upon leaving the luncheon the men happily discovered the Dolly Parton cutout and immediately lined up to have their individual photos taken with Dolly. The big smiles on the men's faces highlighted the fact that Dolly was a world celebrity!
As the years went on Dolly was an ever-present superstar. We saw her on television, heard her on radio and read about her in newspapers and magazines. She championed her glitzy wardrobe, her make-up style, her high heels, her big blonde wigs and her delightful sense of humor.
Dolly Parton was an outstanding business woman and a defender of human rights. She created the Dollywood theme park in her home area of East Tennessee.
What I came to most admire about Dolly Parton was her heart. She was one of 12 children who grew up in a backwoods cabin in the Appalachian Mountains. Dolly grew up in poverty but she never forgot where she came from. Over her lifetime she invested millions into programs that benefited children, minorities and the common people.
In an effort to increase and encourage literacy Dolly Parton created her Imagination Library program in 1995. The program sends a new book each month to children (in designated areas) from birth to age five in the U.S. as well as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The books are mailed at no cost to the children's families.
In 1988 Dolly created the Dollywood Foundation which supports education, regional development and crisis relief.
During the pandemic of 2020 Dolly made a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to fund research that directly supported the development of the highly effective Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The list of beneficiaries goes on and on.
I had no idea when I was playing Dolly Parton records on an early morning radio program nearly 60 years ago that this pretty young country singer from the Tennessee mountains would make such an enormous impact for good on our world.
As a red-blooded American male I confess to having noticed Dolly's youthful hour-glass figure, flashy wardrobe and big blonde wigs. She was a fine-looking, intelligent woman with an enormous talent. The most attractive thing about Dolly Parton, however, was her huge, loving and generous heart.
Good-bye Dolly. We already miss you.
(Arvid Huisman can be contacted at huismaniowa@gmail.com. ©2026 by Huisman Communications.)