Dolly Parton’s Husband Passes Away At 82

Carl Dean, the husband of Dolly Parton, passed away on Monday at the age of 82, after nearly 60 years of marriage, during which he kept out of the spotlight despite his wife’s chart-topping fame.

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

The singer-songwriter and actress first crossed paths with Dean in 1964 outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, the same day she moved to the city to pursue a career in country music.

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She was 18 years old, and he was 21 at the time.

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

“He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about,” she added.

The couple tied the knot two years later in May 1966, in a modest ceremony attended by only Parton’s mother, the preacher, and his wife.

The simple wedding set the tone for the couple’s 58-year marriage, with Dean consistently staying out of the public eye.

The Nashville native worked as an asphalt paver while his wife’s music career soared, earning her the title of “queen of country music.”

The couple led a quiet, private life away from the spotlight.

“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.”

The couple did not have any children.

According to the singer’s website, Dean, born in 1942 to Edgar ‘Ed’ Henry Dean and Virginia ‘Ginny’ Bates, was fondly referred to as Mama Dean by Parton, who also considered her to be her closest friend.

Carl Dean is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie.

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