I was sitting down at my desk this morning when a Dolly Parton came on and I found myself wondering what her and Suzzane are doing in #Heaven this morning. Because if you believe in the LORD then you know both of these amazing women are there with our friends and family.
The more I thought about Dolly I wanted to share a fun fact about me. If I ever grow up, I want to be just like Dolly Parton although at times I’ve also thought I would want to live until I’m a 101 like Jimney Cricket but I also wouldn’t mind remaining a Toys R Us Kid. How about you?
From rhinestones and unforgettable songs to children’s books and a lifetime of giving, remembering the woman behind the larger-than-life personality—and the memories she gave us. Dolly Parton has always been someone I admired. And if I ever grow up, I want to be just like her.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Dolly Parton? The woman with the big hair, the rhinestones, the music, the movies, the businesses, and the larger-than-life personality? Yes. Her. But before I get into all the reasons I admire Dolly, let me explain something about growing up.
In my home Dolly was someone women didn’t want around there men but for men she was the women they wanted. But if I ever really did grow up, I want to be just like Dolly Parton and in a way I am a little Dolly just look at my chest.. Although my girlfriends may not have a chest like Dolly and I do I’m pretty sure some of my girlfriends would feel the same way about wanting to be Dolly when they grow up.
Especially Suzzane. She loved Dolly’s bigger-than-life personality just like I did. The big hair, the rhinestones that could make our clothes unique and one of a kind and those songs that get you up out of your chair and dancing before you even realize you’re moving.
Then there are the movies! One of our favorites to remember is The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Now, seriously, what woman in her right mind wouldn’t want Burt Reynolds to come driving up and rescue her? I’m just saying! You need to move over because he would be there for me. Not, Dolly. LOL
But underneath all the laughter, the rhinestones, the music, and the movies, there is something much more important about Dolly that has always stayed with me. Her legacy. Not just the businesses she built, the songs she wrote, or the movies she made, but the kindness she shared and the difference she made in people’s lives. That’s the kind of legacy I want to leave behind. And it’s the kind of legacy Suzzane left behind, too.
Suzzane may not have had Dolly Parton’s fame or fortune, but she was part of my life in a way that no amount of money could ever replace. Her life mattered. The love she shared mattered. And the memories she left with the people who loved her still matter today.
That’s what I think about when I look at Dolly Parton and say that if I ever grow up, I want to be just like her. I want to keep dreaming, keep laughing, keep loving, keep sharing my stories, and keep finding ways to make somebody else’s day a little brighter. I want the sparkle, sure. I wouldn’t turn down a few rhinestones! But more than anything, I want the heart.
Because when all is said and done, I don’t want people to remember me just because of something I owned or something I accomplished. I want them to remember how I made them feel. And I want to honor the memory of my Suzzane by living a life that continues to share the love she left behind. That’s the kind of growing up I can believe in.
When I look at Dolly Parton, I don’t see all those things first. I see a woman. A woman who managed to become one of the most recognizable people in the world without letting success become the most important thing about her. And maybe that’s what I admire most.
Dolly was a singer and a songwriter. She was a musician, an actress, a movie star, an entertainer, a businesswoman, and an entrepreneur. She built businesses and created opportunities. She helped turn Dollywood into something that became far bigger than a theme park—it became part of the community and part of the legacy she built in the Smoky Mountains.
But somehow, through all of that, she still seemed to understand who she was. She didn’t need the world to make her feel important. She just kept working. She kept writing. She kept creating. She kept giving. And she kept being Dolly. That is the kind of success I understand. Because what good is having everything if you don’t have a heart big enough to share it?
Dolly was born in 1946 in the mountains of East Tennessee, one of 12 children in a family that knew what it meant to live with very little. Her childhood wasn’t filled with the luxuries people might associate with her later life. Her family worked hard, and her upbringing became an important part of the stories she would tell through her music.
She began performing as a child and pursued her musical dreams long before she became a household name. She eventually moved to Nashville to build her career, bringing her songwriting talent, determination, and unmistakable personality with her. And look what happened.
The little girl from the Smoky Mountains became an international music legend. But I don’t think her story is simply about becoming famous. It’s about what she did with the opportunities she received and the opportunities she created for others. That’s the part of Dolly’s story I want to remember.
Dolly and her husband, Carl Dean, never had children of their own. Their marriage lasted nearly six decades, and Carl was the private person behind the woman who spent much of her life in the public eye. But when I think about Dolly and children, I don’t think about what she didn’t have.
I think about everything she gave. Dolly took many children under her wing in the ways that mattered. She became a godmother, supported young people, and found ways to help children that reached far beyond her own family. And then there are those books. Oh my God. The books.
Dolly’s Imagination Library has become one of the most beautiful examples of what happens when someone takes something personal from her own childhood and turns it into a gift for other people. Inspired in part by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly launched the program in 1995 in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee.
What began as a local effort grew into an international program that mails free books to children from birth through age five, helping families introduce little ones to the joy of reading. Just think about that for a minute. A child opens the mailbox and finds a book waiting just for them. A parent gets to share a story with a little one. A child begins to discover that reading can take them anywhere their imagination wants to go. And all of that grew from one woman’s desire to give children something she believed mattered.
That is the kind of thing that makes me stop and think. If I could do something like that in my lifetime, I would know that I was a success. Not because I had become famous. Not because I had made a lot of money. Not because people knew my name. But because I had made somebody else’s life a little better. That’s success to me.
And I think Dolly understood that. She took something that mattered to her family and turned it into a gift for families she would never meet. That is a beautiful way to leave something behind. She Built an Empire Without Losing Herself There is a lot to admire about Dolly Parton the entrepreneur.
She understood her talents, her name, her music, and her audience. She understood business. She understood entertainment. She understood that if you were going to build something, you had better build it with a purpose. And she wasn’t afraid to dream big. Look at Dollywood and look at the hotels and resorts. Look at her music and look at her movies. Look at the merchandise and look at the books. Look at the countless businesses and projects connected to the Dolly Parton name.
It would be easy to look at all of that and say, “Wow. Look how successful Dolly became.” But that’s not really the part that fascinates me. The part that fascinates me is that she never seemed to forget the little girl she was before the world knew her name. That’s where the real story is.
Dolly could walk into a room covered in rhinestones and still make you feel like she was somebody you could sit down with at the kitchen table. And maybe that’s because she understood where she came from. She knew what it meant to be poor. She knew what it meant to work. She knew what it meant to dream. And she knew what it meant to believe.
She built her career through songwriting, recording, touring, acting, and business ventures. Her songs became part of country music history, and her work reached people who might never have considered themselves country music fans. She also created opportunities for other people through her businesses and charitable work.
Her success wasn’t limited to selling records or filling concert halls. She helped create a place where people could work, families could make memories, and children could experience the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. It would be easy to focus on the money she made.
But I keep coming back to what she did with her success. She gave. And that’s what I hope to do in my own way through Greatful Moments. I may not be building a theme park or creating a program that sends millions of books to children, but I can share stories. I can introduce readers to people and businesses they might not otherwise discover. I can talk about the things that make life meaningful. I can try to make somebody smile. And sometimes, that’s where making a difference begins.
Of course, we cannot talk about Dolly Parton without talking about her movies. For me, the movies are part of the fun of remembering Dolly. She could sing, make people laugh, tell a story, and bring a character to life in a way that made you want to watch her again.
There’s 9 to 5, with its unforgettable humor and its story about women who are tired of being underestimated at work. There’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which gives me another excuse to bring up Burt Reynolds and that whole idea of a man riding in to rescue somebody. And then there’s Steel Magnolias, a film filled with friendship, family, laughter, heartbreak, and the kind of moments that remind us how complicated life can be.
Dolly wasn’t simply a singer who decided to try acting. She brought her personality and her understanding of people to the screen. And her music has done something similar. Songs like Jolene have become part of our musical vocabulary. 9 to 5 gave working women a song they could sing along with and a story that spoke to their experiences. Coat of Many Colors reminds listeners of the power of family, love, and the memories we carry from childhood.
Then there are all the songs that make us want to get up and dance. That’s part of the fun, too. Sometimes we need a song that makes us think. Sometimes we need one that brings a tear to our eyes. And sometimes we just need a song that makes us forget our troubles for a few minutes and dance around the living room.
Dolly gave us all of those things. And for people like me and Suzzane, those songs and movies become part of our own stories. We may not have known Dolly personally, but her work gave us something to share, laugh about, remember, and enjoy. That’s a gift that lasts. A Woman Who Loved Her Husband And then there is Carl.
For all of Dolly’s fame, there was one part of her life she protected fiercely: her marriage. Dolly and Carl Dean married in 1966 and remained together for nearly 60 years, until Carl’s death on March 3, 2025. He stayed mostly out of the spotlight while Dolly’s career grew into something neither of them could have imagined when they first met. Wouldn’t we all strive to have something like that?
Not necessarily the fame. Not necessarily the money. Not necessarily the empire. But the love. The commitment. The ability to build a life with someone and keep choosing each other. That’s the kind of thing that matters when all the lights are turned off. Dolly respected Carl’s desire for privacy, even while her career put her in front of audiences around the world. Their relationship was a reminder that two people can have very different public lives and still build a life together.
I think that says something about Dolly the woman. Because she could have allowed fame to become her entire identity. Instead, she had a private life that mattered to her. She had people she loved. She had family. She had faith. And she had a husband she loved until the end of his life.
Their story reminds me that not every precious thing needs to be shared with the whole world to be meaningful. Some of the most important things happen quietly, away from the cameras, when nobody else is watching. Then you throw in all of her relationships with the people she met throughout her life. The singers and the musicians. The actors and the songwriters. The business people and, perhaps most importantly, the fans.
Because Dolly Parton didn’t just make music. She made memories. And people have stories to tell about her. That’s one of the things I love about people who become part of our lives through music and television. We may never have met them, but somehow they become part of our families anyway.
We remember where we were when we heard a song. We remember watching a movie. We remember singing along. We remember somebody we loved who loved that same song. And suddenly, that celebrity isn’t just a celebrity anymore. They’re part of our story. Dolly became that for generations of people.
Her songs played in homes, in cars, at family gatherings, and on radios that accompanied people through good times and bad. Her movies made us laugh, gave us something to think about, and sometimes reminded us of ourselves. And now, with Dolly gone, those memories mean even more.
Her music is still her and her movies are still here. Her books and the programs she helped create are still here. And the stories people tell about her will continue to be shared. Wouldn’t you like to be remembered for making people feel that way? I know I would.
And then there is Coat of Many Colors. That story can bring people to their knees. It isn’t just a song. It’s a reminder of where Dolly came from, what her family meant to her, and how something that could have been a source of embarrassment became a story of love.
Dolly’s mother made her a coat from scraps of fabric. Other children didn’t understand what that coat meant, but Dolly understood the love stitched into every piece. The story became a song that reached far beyond the mountains where Dolly grew up. That’s Dolly.
She could take something ordinary and make you see the extraordinary in it. And maybe that’s another reason I admire her. Because isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Take what we’ve been given and make something good out of it? Take our struggles and turn them into stories? Take our blessings and share them? Take our lives and use them for something bigger than ourselves? Dolly did that. Over and over again.
She took the life she knew, the family she loved, and the experiences that shaped her and turned them into songs that reached people she would never meet. That’s a remarkable gift. And it reminds me that we never really know how far our own stories might travel.
Something that happened in our childhood might comfort another person decades later. A memory we share might remind somebody that they aren’t alone. A little piece of our lives might become the very thing someone else needs to hear. That’s one reason I believe so strongly in telling our stories.
We don’t always know who needs to hear them. But we can share them anyway. And Above Everything, There Was Her Faith For me, there is one more thing that makes Dolly Parton the kind of woman I want to be. Her faith. Dolly spoke openly about her belief in God and the importance of faith in her life. She wasn’t perfect, because none of us are. But she was willing to share what she believed. And that’s important to me. Because God comes first.
That’s the foundation I want for my own life. I don’t want to be remembered because I had the biggest website or the most readers or because somebody knew my name. I want to be remembered because I loved people. Because I shared stories. Because I gave somebody something that made them smile. Because maybe something I wrote made somebody feel less alone. Because I pointed people back toward faith. Because I tried.
That’s what I see when I look at Dolly Parton. Not perfection. Possibility. A woman who started with very little and dreamed very big. A woman who became a businesswoman without forgetting her roots. A woman who used her success to give back. A woman who had no children of her own but helped countless children discover the joy of books. A woman who loved her husband. A woman who loved music. A woman who loved people. A woman whose faith was part of her story. And a woman who showed us that kindness matters.
Dolly’s life reminds me that we don’t have to be famous to make a difference. We don’t have to own an empire to leave a legacy. And we don’t have to wait until we have more money, more time, or more opportunities before we start doing something good for somebody else.
We can start right where we are. With what we have. With the people God places in our lives. And with a willingness to give a little of ourselves. If I Ever Grow Up… So yes, if I ever grow up, I want to be a little more like Dolly Parton. Not the hair. Although, let’s be honest, the hair is pretty fabulous.
Not necessarily the rhinestones. Although I’m certainly not going to turn down a little sparkle. I’m talking about the woman underneath all of it. The woman who dreamed. The woman who worked. The woman who gave. The woman who loved. The woman who believed. And the woman who understood that success isn’t just about what you collect. It’s about what you leave behind.
That’s why I’m grateful, thankful, and blessed to be able to own this site. Because I get to do something Dolly did in her own way. I get to share stories. I get to talk about people who have meant something to me. I get to tell you a little bit about my memories of Dolly Parton. And maybe, just maybe, I get to make you remember something, too.
I want Greatful Moments to be a place where people can share their memories, discover new things, celebrate the people who matter to them, and find a little encouragement along the way. I want to tell stories that make people laugh and stories that make them think.
I want to share things that bring families together. I want to remind people that faith matters, that kindness matters, and that the little things we do for one another can have a bigger impact than we realize. I want to honor Suzzane’s memory by continuing to share love with the world.
And I want to keep learning from people like Dolly Parton, who showed us that a person can dream big, work hard, and still make room in her heart for others. Dolly’s life on this earth has ended, but the stories, songs, laughter, books, and kindness she shared continue to touch people’s lives. And that’s what a legacy is. It’s what remains in the hearts of people long after the spotlight goes dark.
So now I’m asking you: What is your Dolly Parton memory? Maybe it’s a song. Maybe it’s a movie. Maybe it’s a concert. Maybe it’s a book your child received. Maybe it’s something your mother or father loved. Maybe it’s Coat of Many Colors. Maybe it’s 9 to 5. Maybe it’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Maybe it’s a moment when Dolly made you laugh, cry, think, or believe a little harder. Maybe you loved her rhinestones, her humor, her voice, or the way she could turn a story from her childhood into something that touched millions of people.
Whatever it is, I want to hear it. Share your memory in the comments. I’d love to know what Dolly meant to you and which part of her story you’ll carry with you. Because that’s what Greatful Moments is really about. The people behind our memories. The stories we carry. The love we share. And the little pieces of this world that remind us to be grateful, thankful, and blessed.
Dolly Parton gave all of us plenty of memories to hold onto. And I hope we can carry a little of her kindness forward, too. Because if I ever grow up, I want to be just like Dolly. And I want to leave behind a legacy of kindness, just as I believe Suzzane did. Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.
GreatfulMoments.com
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
