Dolly Parton never forgot Tennessee, now the state pays tribute

After Dolly Parton's death, Tennessee remembers its hometown hero. Reaction to Dolly Parton's death in Tennessee.

Key points

• In 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Tennessee's Vanderbilt University Medical Center to backing COVID-19 research.
• When devastating wildfires swept through East Tennessee in 2016, Parton established the My Individuals Fund.
• Parton's Imagination Library initiative began in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, inspired by her father Robert Lee Parton.
• The "Jolene" singer was born into a family of 12 children in the tiny mountain community of Pittman Center, Tennessee.
• As Dolly Parton Day in the state, calling her "Tennessee's favorite daughter.", 19.

For context, the death of country music legend Dolly Parton sent shockwaves worldwide, but most notably in her beloved home state of Tennessee.

Parton died at the age of 80 on Tuesday in Nashville after a "brief battle" with cancer, according to her publicist.

Notably, the "Jolene" singer was born into a family of 12 children in the tiny mountain community of Pittman Center, Tennessee.

Though she went on to become one of the world's most successful and admired entertainers, Parton never forgot her roots, opening a theme park, Dollywood, in her home state in the 1980s and donating millions of dollars over the years to backing her fellow Tennesseans.

When she turned 80 in January, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declared her birthday, Jan. As Dolly Parton Day in the state, calling her "Tennessee's favorite daughter.", 19.

Dolly Parton dead at 80: Celebrities, politicians react to country music superstar's death.

After her death on Tuesday, tributes to the star popped up throughout Tennessee, from her home in Brentwood to her star on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville to her hometown and the Grand Ole Opry, where Parton first discovered fame more than 50 years ago.

As she informed ABC News' Barbara Walters in a 1977 interview, early in her career, parton left her small mountain hometown immediately after high school for Nashville, where she set out to become a superstar.

She spent the rest of her life based in the Nashville area, leaving a lasting impact, according to the city's mayor, Freddie O'Connell.

"While Nashville wasn't her original home, she helped change it forever with an incredible, unprecedented thing: filling a little library in every childcare center in the city with books from her Imagination Library, " O'Connell remarked in an official note Tuesday. "She's given Nashville — and the world — story and song and done so in a way that she remained universally beloved in challenging times."

Parton's Imagination Library initiative began in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, inspired by her father Robert Lee Parton. This person could not read or write. The program, which provides free books each month to children from birth to age 5, regardless of their family's income, eventually expanded throughout the U.S. And internationally.

Parton was additionally known to provide back to her home state when natural disasters struck.

When devastating wildfires swept through East Tennessee in 2016, Parton established the My Individuals Fund. It provided $1, 000 per month for six months to families who lost their homes. Dolly Parton discussions career, fame and more in her own words.

Years afterwards, in 2024, she unveiled she was donating $1 million of her own funds to relief efforts in Tennessee after Hurricane Helene, with another $1 million donated by her businesses.

In 2020, Parton donated $1 million to Tennessee's Vanderbilt University Medical Center to backing COVID-19 research. Two years afterwards, she donated another $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to backing pediatric infectious disease research.

Fittingly, Parton's last public in-person appearance before her death was in Tennessee. She created a surprise appearance in June at the grand opening of a gas station and restaurant called Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, a town around 60 miles outside of Nashville.

For now, dolly Parton never forgot Tennessee, now the state pays tribute remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.