Dolly Parton reached out to fans, friends and family with what she called a “love note” Thursday in the wake of husband Carl Dean’s death earlier this week. Then on Friday she dedicated a new song in his honor, saying he was “the star” in her life story.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old,” Parton wrote on social media. “We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song. He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”
The song is “If You Hadn’t Been There” and includes the lyrics, “Oh you are my rock/ A soft place to land/ My wings, my confidence/ You understand/ Your willingness/ Beyond compare/ No I wouldn’t be here/ If you hadn’t been there.”
Her voice trembles with emotion as she sings the lyrics, fueled by the six decades of relationship behind them. Comments on the Instagram post are from people around the world.
The new tune follows Parton’s Thursday note to supporters on social media. “Thank you for all the messages, cards, and flowers that you’ve sent to pay your respects for the loss of my beloved husband Carl. I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me,” she wrote.
Parton, 79, married Dean, who died Monday at age 82, on May 30, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia, southeast of Chattanooga and close to the Tennessee-Georgia state line. The ceremony was tiny, according to her website, including only Parton’s mom, plus the preacher and his wife. Bride and groom had met two years prior, when she was 18 and he was 21.
Dean’s cause of death was not made public, and his funeral will be private. On Monday, Parton’s camp posted a quick statement online confirming his death in Nashville, Tennessee, and including a few words from the singer.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she said in that first statement. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Among those responding with comments: Cracker Barrel restaurants and Dollar General stores, keeping the down-home vibe going. And while celebs including Reese Witherspoon and Khloe Kardashian registered their condolences, so did regular fans.
“What a beautiful love story coming to its worldly conclusion,” said one comment posted Thursday by a fan whose private Instagram account said her name is Sarah Lewis. “A handsome and understanding man providing such a foundation to a lightning bolt of a woman.”
Parton, that lightning bolt, ended her remarks in Thursday’s note, saying of her husband, “He is in God’s arms now and I am okay with that. I will always love you.”
