08/26/2026
DOLLY PARTON, and my ANGEL story involving her. I have never grieved the loss of a celebrity before, but Dolly was different. I adored her and her music was woven into the story of my life. I started singing her music at a young age and I introduced all my kids to her music too. My most meaningful personal Dolly story has to do with how she touched my father, who was my hero too. I was the last person to be with my dad the night before he passed. My father was in severe pain and his disease had ravaged his body--his recent stroke had also left him totally blind, but he could still hear. He had requested to be baptized in the hospital chapel just a few days earlier. As I sat by his hospital bed in his final hours, we listened to the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson and Johnny had on two guests. The first guest was Mel Torme, who had been my dad's former classmate at Hyde Park high school in Chicago. That was a really a crazy coincidence and made my dad smile. And then Dolly Parton came out to be interviewed wearing an all white gown. After speaking to Johnny, she walked center stage and belted out the song "He's Alive!". And as she sang it, I saw a tear cross my father's cheek which was the only tear I ever witnessed him cry in my life. "He's Alive" would be the last piece of music my father would ever hear. I said goodnight to him and he died at sunrise on Thanksgiving morning in 1989. But I know without a doubt that Dolly Parton delivered my father to his Lord and savior and into heaven with her message and her music that night. And now she is there too. I will never forget that memory as long as I live and I will love her forever. Click below to hear her sing the son.
Back in 1989, while returning to Tennessee after a concert tour, Do...
