Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, passed away on Monday at the age of 82. The famously private businessman died in Nashville, Tennessee, as confirmed by Parton in a heartfelt social media statement.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” she wrote.
Dean and Parton first crossed paths outside a laundromat on the very day she arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer. Recalling their first meeting, Parton once shared, “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Their connection deepened quickly, leading to their private wedding ceremony on May 30, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia. Despite Parton’s meteoric rise to fame, Dean maintained a life away from the spotlight, running his asphalt-paving business in Nashville.
Although Dean shied away from public attention, his influence on Parton’s music was undeniable. He famously inspired her 1973 hit “Jolene,” a song about a bank teller who had a crush on him.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton revealed in a 2008 interview. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us—when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
Because of Dean’s reclusive nature, rumours swirled for years that he didn’t actually exist. Parton herself playfully addressed the speculation in 1984, telling the Associated Press, “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”
Despite the gossip, their love endured, remaining one of the entertainment industry’s most private yet enduring marriages. The couple had no children, but they built a life together that spanned nearly six decades.
Dean is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie.
Melissa Enoch
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