Dolly Parton Laid to Rest in Private Nashville Funeral
The country singer was interred beside her husband Carl Dean at Woodlawn Memorial Park, a day before family paid tribute at the Grand Ole Opry.
A Private Burial in Nashville
Dolly Parton, the American country singer who died at the age of 80, was laid to rest at a private family funeral in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday. She was placed beside her late husband at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum.
The Guardian reports that Parton died on 25 August "after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer", and that she was interred alongside her husband of 60 years, whom it names as Carl Thomas. The BBC names her husband as Carl Dean. The two publications differ on this point.
Only immediate family attended the small ceremony, according to People, as cited by the Guardian. Parton had her name engraved on the large mausoleum plaque before she died, along with an engraving of the cabin in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up. The BBC describes a brass plaque showing both names and engravings of their childhood homes, photographed at the tomb by Amelia Young, a reporter for Nashville's NewsChannel 5.
Family Tributes
Parton's great-niece, Lainey Parton, posted a tribute on Instagram on the Saturday after the burial. "It still doesn't feel real that she's gone," she wrote. "I'm going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there."
She called the singer "granny" and said: "Because she couldn't have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers." She added that Parton had supported her through beauty school: "She didn't just tell me to chase my dreams, she helped me get there."
On Saturday, Parton's niece Jada Star performed at a tribute concert at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House, long regarded as the home of country music. Star sang The Orchard, a song she recorded with her aunt for the 2024 album Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables. "I am walking around in a fog of sadness, like all of you have," she wrote beforehand.
Unfinished Projects and DollyFest
An obituary posted by Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum described a seven-decade career and asked that donations be made to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, her scheme to send free books to young children, in lieu of flowers.
The Guardian reports that on Monday the Parton estate announced DollyFest, a two-weekend event to be held in Nashville and London next year. Parton had been planning the festival for January 2026 but stepped back because of health issues.
"As far as a traditional memorial goes, that is not something Dolly wanted," her manager Danny Nozell said in a press release, describing the festival as a concept she dreamed up herself. Her team has confirmed that projects she was working on before her death will continue, including a line of coffee grounds. The sources do not say when DollyFest will take place or how the two publications' differing accounts of her husband's name are to be reconciled.
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