I cried in yoga class last week. I've led a yogalates practice with the same group of lovely humans for about 15 years. We've been through a lot together and cried together before, but never about the loss of someone none of us had ever met.
Class met the day after Dolly Parton died at age 80.I'm not a huge country music fan, but I'm a fan of all things Dolly. Playing quietly in the background was a playlist of her songs. One class member said, "Oh, there's Dolly," and her face gave away her feelings. We spent a few minutes talking about how she represented the best of humanity and crying.
I can think of no one better way to open the 11th consecutive season of Tri States Public Radio's Women's Voices Series than a commentary about Dolly. She is proof that nothing bad happens when women have money and can spend it the way they want to.
Dolly was generous in so many ways. The Imagination Library, which Dolly started in 1995, is near and dear to my heart. I am that adult who gives children books as gifts. The Imagination Library mails free books to kids every month from birth to kindergarten and is named for her dad who never learned to read.
What began as a small project in Sevier County, Tennessee, grew over 30 years into a project spanning five countries: the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Ireland. The program has now gifted well over 300 million books globally. Research from United Way of Australia and Macquarie University found these children are 9 times more likely to love books, and 15 times more likely to interact with their caregivers during reading time, compared to children who weren't enrolled in the program.
In 1988, Dolly created the Buddy Program to lower dropout rates in Sevier County. Seventh and eighth graders each picked a partner and signed a pledge: if both stayed in school and graduated, each got a $500 check. If one dropped out, neither received the money — forcing the students to keep each other accountable. The county's dropout rate fell from over 30% to just 6%.
When wildfires swept through Gatlinburg and Sevier County in 2016, Dolly established the My People Fund within 48 hours, delivering $1,000 a month for six months to nearly 900 displaced families so they could buy food, pay rent, and keep their dignity without waiting on paperwork to be processed. A subsequent benefit telethon she hosted raised over $9 million, allowing her to raise the gift to $10,000 per family. She closed out the fund by giving $200,000 to local volunteer fire departments for equipment and repairs.
When Hurricane Helene flooded western North Carolina and East Tennessee in 2024, Dolly pledged $1 million to the Mountain Ways Foundation, matched by another $1 million from her East Tennessee businesses, including Dollywood. I'm sure if she were still alive, she would be sending money to the people of Nepal after its most recent disaster.
Dolly also made massive, recurring commitments to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her niece, Hannah, was successfully treated for leukemia there, and watching her fight cancer inspired Dolly to donate to pediatric healthcare. Beyond a $1 million donation in 2017, she gave another $1 million in 2022 to fund research into children's infectious diseases.
When the world shut down in 2020, her long friendship with Dr. Naji Abumrad of Vanderbilt benefitted millions around the world. She donated $1 million when he told her they were making early, exciting progress toward a coronavirus treatment. That funding provided critical seed money behind the early-stage research Moderna used to create its COVID-19 vaccine. Sidenote: Jad Abumrad, Dr. Abumrad’s son is the creator of RadioLab and produced a stellar podcast called Dolly Parton’s America, which I highly recommend.
In late 2022, the Courage and Civility Award honored Dolly with an unconditional $100 million grant to be distributed to nonprofits over 10 years. True to form, Dolly didn't buy a super yacht, buy up land in Albania for a resort for the rich and famous, build an underground bunker or shut down the city of Venice for a three-day wedding. She moved the cash straight to the causes she'd spent decades building, sending the sum directly into grassroots literacy, disaster response, and medical aid.
That's the wealth I want more of.
Thank you Dolly.
Heather McIlvaine-Newsad is a Professor of Anthropology at Western Illinois University. Her research focuses on collaborative action for sustainability.
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the university or TSPR.
Diverse viewpoints are welcomed and encouraged.