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'Mr. & Mrs. Carl Dean.” The black-and-white picture of the…
We will always love her: How Dolly Parton lived out her personal faith
The family of the entertainment icon's late husband, Carl Dean, had roots in Churches of Christ.
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Like Jesus urged his followers to do, Dolly Parton loved her neighbors.
But what about loving her enemies, another biblical commandment?
I’m guessing the entertainment icon, whose death Tuesday at age 80 sent shockwaves around the world, found that more difficult to do.
Why?
“The thing about Dolly was that she seemed to have no enemies,” The Dispatch’s Michael Reneau wrote in a tribute headlined “Dolly Was a Real One.” “Even if you didn’t quite get her, it was impossible not to like her.”
In his New York Times obituary of Parton, Bill Friskics-Warren described the country music queen as “quintessentially, a uniter of people.” The writer referenced a 2019 Times story that featured this headline: “Is There Anything We Can All Agree On? Yes: Dolly Parton.”
Since Bryan Seaver, Parton’s nephew and head of security, revealed the news that she “is in the arms of Jesus,” I’ve joined countless millions of fans in reflecting on her life, her legacy — and yes, her faith.
I’ve found myself listening to songs such as “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” which Parton performed with her old friend Kenny Rogers, who died in 2020 at 81.
In the wake of Parton’s passing, these lyrics require a tissue:
When Saint Peter opens the gate
And you come walking in
I’ll be there just waiting for you
‘Cause you can’t make old friends
Equally poignant is “When I Get Where I’m Going,” Parton’s duet with Brad Paisley:
Yeah, when I get where I’m goin’
There’ll be only happy tears
I’ll shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I’ll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I’m goin’
Don’t cry for me down here
We’ll try not to cry, Dolly.
Well, not too much anyway.
My favorite Parton song ranks as one of her biggest hits — along with classics such as “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene.” Brought up “dirt poor” in a large Tennessee family, she based “Coat of Many Colors” on the Bible story her mother told about Joseph:
My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me
Parton’s ties to Churches of Christ
My curiosity was piqued several years ago when I came across a black-and-white picture of “Mr. and Mrs. Carl Dean” in the 1966 directory of the Radnor Church of Christ in Nashville, Tenn.
Mrs. Carl Dean was, of course, better known as Dolly Parton.
A portrait of Carl Dean and his wife, Dolly Parton, from a 1966 church directory.
In the story that I wrote for The Christian Chronicle, I provided this context:
The 75-year-old entertainment icon talked about her little-known — and apparently brief — connection to Churches of Christ in her 2020 book “Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.”
“I loved my husband’s mother. She was very sweet, and we were like best friends. Her name was Virginia, but everybody called her Ginny,” Parton wrote concerning her mother-in-law, who died from cancer at age 71 in 1991. “Carl’s mother was very religious. She was in church every Wednesday and every Sunday morning.
“The Deans were Church of Christ people. They don’t believe in having any instruments in their church; they just use their voices,” added Parton, who wrote her 1971 song “Lord Hold My Hand” with Ginny Dean. “Ginny had this big, beautiful, ‘church’ kind of voice. Very proper. It sounded totally different from our ‘Holy Roller’ church back home.”
After Carl Dean’s death last year, Parton talked to The Associated Press about relying on her faith:
“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together,” said Parton. “You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part.”
While I tried, I never got to interview Parton myself.
Related: Saints and singers
But Greg Garrison, the longtime religion writer for Alabama Media Group, did.
Garrison reflected on what Parton taught him about faith. He asked her about her Christian faith and whether being a celebrity changed it:
“Well, that faith I had when I was a child has helped me right through everything right now,” Dolly said.
“My grandpa was a preacher, a Pentecostal preacher. My daddy’s people were Baptist. So I’ll have a little chapel in all my places. I have a place where I grew up and I call it the Bapticostal chapel. I just believe that there’s a God. I believe that God helps me, leads me.
“I talk to Him everyday. I’d prefer to believe in God if there wasn’t one, I’d still believe in God, because I believe we need to believe in something bigger and better than ourselves.
“It gives us hope. It gives us strength. I know it does me. My faith is very important.
“I do believe that through God all things are possible. I do believe that Jesus loves me. And I just use that. I’m never ashamed of my family. I’m never ashamed of my religion. I’m not trying to cram it down anyone else’s throat. I just think that everybody’s got to have something to believe in.”
How Parton helped one Christian ministry
I opened with a reference to Parton loving her neighbors.
After her death, I became aware of a specific example involving a couple I know.
In recent years, I’ve written multiple stories — for the Chronicle and Religion Unplugged — about Matt and Macy Collins, whose 4-year-old daughter, Hattie Jo, died in a 2020 tornado that battered Cookeville, Tenn.
In 2024, I did an in-depth feature on Matt and Macy launching the Magnolia Foundation, a ministry to honor their oldest daughter’s memory and support other parents who lose a child.
Here’s what I didn’t know: Parton helped the Magnolia Foundation — as she did countless other causes.
Matt Collins, former youth minister for the Collegeside Church of Christ in Cookeville, shared the details on Facebook:
The Magnolia Foundation was less than a year old when, on a Friday afternoon in August, I got a knock on the door. I was getting some mail — the kind you have to sign for. When I opened the envelope up, I was blown away. I was holding a check from Dolly Parton in support of Magnolia.
Magnolia was new, and I was still wondering if it was a good idea to quit the real job I had and start this foundation. Dolly’s support wasn’t just financial — it was validation and encouragement to keep going. Dolly, without ever meeting us in person, has proven to be uniquely important to our family. Dollywood has been a place where we celebrate and grieve our daughter, Hattie. We will be there in 2 weeks for Hattie’s 11th birthday. Her support on that August afternoon meant more than the amount on the check. Dolly considered Magnolia a worthy cause to invest in — she cared about us and the people that we have the opportunity to serve.
If Magnolia has ever impacted your life or the life of a loved one, I want you to know that, directly or indirectly, Dolly was behind it. If you’ve ever supported Magnolia as we serve families, I want you to know that Dolly stood beside you in that effort.
A remarkable life. Thank you, Dolly.
Yes, thank you, Dolly.
For everything.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged, where an expanded version of this column can be read. Reach him at [email protected].
