Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s devoted husband for nearly 60 years, passed away on Monday at the age of 82. Dean, who had largely stayed out of the public eye, was the inspiration behind Parton’s iconic song “Jolene.” He died in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with only immediate family members present.
Parton shared a heartfelt statement expressing her grief, saying, “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.”
The family has requested privacy during this time, and no cause of death has been disclosed.
Parton recalled meeting Dean when she first moved to Nashville at 18. She said they met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat, and she was surprised by how genuinely interested he was in getting to know her. “I was delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face, which was rare for me,” she added.
Carl Dean and Dolly Parton married two years later, on Memorial Day, May 30, 1966, in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.
Dean was a businessman who owned an asphalt-paving company in Nashville. He was the son of Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean, and the couple had three children. Parton fondly referred to his mother as “Mama Dean.”
Carl Dean is survived by his wife, Dolly Parton, and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.
Dean was the inspiration behind Parton’s iconic song “Jolene.” In a 2008 interview, Parton shared that she wrote the song about a flirtatious bank teller who seemed to take a special interest in Dean.
“She developed a huge crush on my husband,” Parton explained. “He loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It became a bit of a running joke between us — I’d say, ‘You’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t think we have that kind of money.’ So, it’s really an innocent song, though it might sound a little dramatic.”
For many years, Parton and Dean kept their relationship very private. In 1984, Parton remarked that some people even doubted Dean’s existence, suggesting he might just be someone she made up to keep others away.
Dolly Parton once joked that she’d like to pose with Carl Dean on the cover of a magazine, saying, “So people could at least know that I’m not married to a wart or something.”
In 2023, Parton shared that Dean had helped inspire her Rockstar album. “He’s a big rock and roller,” she said. Parton also revealed that the song “My Blue Tears,” which she wrote while working on The Porter Wagoner Show in the late 1960s and early ’70s, is one of Dean’s favorite songs that she has ever written. “I thought, ‘Well, I better put one of Carl’s favorites of mine in here,’” she added.
Parton also paid tribute to Dean’s musical tastes by covering a few of his favorite songs on the album, including Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”