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<\/a>I saw this gorgeous cartoon by Michael de Adder on Facebook, and thought it’s the perfect tribute to Dolly!<\/p><\/div>\n
So her death this week came as a shock, even though some of us did have a sinking feeling that her demise was coming soon. She had been canceling concerts and events due to health issues, and hadn’t appeared anywhere in a while.<\/p>\n
She was so iconic that I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I got the news that Dolly Parton had died, which does not happen with most famous people. It was Tuesday morning at 11:14 AM and I was sitting in bed, working on my laptop. I heard a little noise coming from my iPad, which indicated that some news had just come in. It was far enough away that I could not make-out the whole message on it very well, and all I could read clearly were the words, \u201cDolly Parton,\u201d and I knew immediately what it meant. And my heart stopped. I looked closer and saw the whole very sad news.<\/p>\n
My heart is bleeding for her family, friends, and gazillion fans. It just doesn\u2019t seem fair to have lost such a purely wonderful person who still had so much more life to live. Just a few days before her death, she gave an interview in which she mentioned that she was \u201cdealing with some health issues,\u201d and stated, \u201c\u2026even though I\u2019m still healin\u2019, I\u2019m still workin\u2019! You know me; as I\u2019ve often said, I\u2019ve dreamed myself into a corner, and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I\u2019m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.\u201d But I believe she knew she would not live much longer at that point. I think she just wanted us all to not worry about her.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dolly Parton and Carl Dean.<\/p><\/div>\n
We now know that she had cancer, but I feel that she was also suffering from a broken heart over the loss of her cherished husband of sixty years, Carl Dean, a year and a half ago. And then, perhaps to a lesser degree, her brother Coy just last month. And she had accomplished more than most people have, so maybe she felt it was time to go join them. At least I\u2019m romanticizing that that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n
Although I’ve never had the good fortune to actually meet<\/em> Dolly, I have been in her orb twice. And in very close proximity. They were both totally memorable experiences, especially the second one, so I\u2019m sharing them with you.<\/p>\n The first time was in the mid-\u201980s at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood. I attended a private industry showcase for Whoopi Goldberg before she was famous; her managers had invited a lot of heavy hitters. A powerful producer had brought my young self along, and we were sitting right in the center, in an elevated area, with Dolly and Lily Tomlin sitting kind-of perpendicular to us, on the same level and off to the side. So I could see their faces the entire time. My producer pal and I never laughed once. And I noticed that Lily Tomlin was also not amused; I was happy to see that she agreed with our<\/em> opinion of the show. But Dolly Parton, ever the darling person that she is, tried to laugh, or at least smile, the whole time. She kept uttering sweet little noises to show support when few others were even chuckling. Right then I knew that she was an absolutely darling person.<\/p>\n Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda at Opening Night of the 9 To 5 musical. Photo from Center Theatre Group.<\/p><\/div>\n The second time I saw Dolly up-close-and-personal was one of the best celebrity experiences ever! It was on September 20, 2008, at the Opening Night of the musical 9 to 5<\/em> at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown LA. I sat just four rows behind Dolly and her co-stars from the earlier movie<\/em> version of 9 To 5<\/em>, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, which was exciting enough. Seriously, I hardly ever care about really<\/em> famous folks, but this trio was royalty. Jane was already seated, but Dolly, then Lily, made late entrances to raucous applause, which is a rarity for that venue.<\/p>\n About twenty minutes into the show, there was a technical issue. So the curtains closed, and the announcer asked us to stay in our seats during the delay. After about a minute in the dark, Dolly called-out from her seat, \u201cDon\u2019t make me have to sing!\u201d<\/p>\n As the audience went wild, they brought up the house lights and by some magic, someone swiftly put a mike in Dolly\u2019s long-nailed hands. She proceeded to talk to us, and was absolutely adorable and charming. I could immediately understand why she\u2019s so beloved.<\/p>\n She explained that in the show\u2019s previews, \u201cWe did have this problem before, but if I have to sing, this time I\u2019m making Lily and Jane join me!\u201d<\/p>\n Dolly Parton being adored at Opening Night by the cast of the 9 To 5 musical, for which she wrote all the songs. Photo from Center Theatre Group.<\/p><\/div>\n She chatted a little more, then announced, \u201cI don\u2019t know what we\u2019re supposed to do but sing 9 To 5<\/em>!,\u201d and led an audience sing-along. At the end, she said, \u201cGood thing I\u2019m such a show-off!\u201d Actually, it was a great<\/em> thing for those of us in the audience that night! It\u2019s such a vivid and precious memory.<\/p>\n She then told us the history of the production, introducing all the important players in the audience, and offered to take questions, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll tell y\u2019all whatever you want to know, and if I don\u2019t know the answer, I\u2019ll make something up.\u201d<\/p>\n She was about to sing her classic And I Will Always Love You<\/em> when, to the entire audiences\u2019 disappointment, (especially mine<\/em> because it was the main song that Clarence, The Singing Dog, loved to perform,) the producer told her that the show was ready to resume. When we let out a collective negative sigh, she said, \u201cLet\u2019s save it in case we break down agin!\u201d (To our chagrin, it did not.)<\/p>\n That was Dolly in a nutshell. She was truly one of a kind. And I don\u2019t think any of us will ever know the full<\/em> scope of the kindnesses she\u2019s done for the world. (I had already written this when I read that her sister wrote, \u201cWhat the world saw is exactly who she was, so much so, she told me recently that if there was no hope for her, she would still allow her medical team to try experimental drugs in the hope of helping others in the future.\u201d Who else in the world would do that?!)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>