Dolly and Carl Dean have enjoyed 50 years of wedded bliss despite facing many of life's obstacles common to most married couples and plenty of unique challenges all their own.
They met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, TN, on the first day Dolly moved to Music City. Falling in love and getting married were, perhaps, the last things on young Dolly Parton's mind. Yet, here was a tall, dark and handsome man who swept her off her feet. She said,
"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."
Two years after that fateful meeting, Dolly and Carl were married on May 30, 1966. It was Memorial Day, Dolly and Carl traveled to Ringgold, GA, with her mother. They had a simple, private ceremony with only Avie Lee, the preacher and his wife in attendance. Since that day, Dolly and Carl have lived happily-ever-after for 50 years. They've loved and supported each other while respecting each other's independence.
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Their 50 years of happiness is a true testament to their parents, Avie Lee and Robert Lee Parton and Carl’s mother and father, Virginia "Ginny" Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean. The Parton's had 12 children and the Dean's had three. Dolly fondly referred to Ginny as Mama Dean and says she was her best friend.
Nearly every aspect of Dolly and Carl's personalities compliment one another. While one would think Dolly would be the most entertaining of the two, she often says that it's Carl's unique sense of humor which keeps her laughing. Given Dolly's larger-than-life outlook on everything, it makes perfect sense that her one-and-only would be equally as special in every way.
Dolly's wedding dress and Carl's suit will be on display at Dolly’s Chasing Rainbows Museum at Dollywood beginning July 1.
Since she has no plans of slowing down, what has worked for Dolly and Carl for the past 50 years is sure to carry them through the next.
Dolly penned her heartfelt emotions for Carl in the words of her song, "From Here to the Moon and Back."
"From here to the moon and back
Who else in this world will love you like that?
Love everlasting, I promise you that
From here to the moon and back"
Dolly sang her song "From Here to the Moon and Back" on the May 28, 2012, episode of season eight of "The Bachelorette" on ABC. On the episode, she also lends her theme park Dollywood to the bachelorette, Emily Maynard and her date.
Dolly said of the episode,
“Being a part of 'The Bachelorette' at Dollywood and meeting Emily and her date was so fun,” she continued, “I’m just a big ole romantic anyway so we had the best time!”
Emily Maynard chose Dollywood because she loves Dolly,
“One of my favorite moments of my whole life, not just of being the bachelorette, was meeting Dolly Parton. I can’t even put into words how excited I was.”
In addition to her performance of "From Here to the Moon and Back" (originally from the "Joyful Noise" soundtrack), Dolly also performed a song she wrote especially for the show entitled "Love Will Find a Way." On the episode, she also has a girl-to-girl talk with Maynard about what she is looking for in a man.
Dolly starred in the Warner Brothers movie "Joyful Noise." In 2012, during a decade when small towns faced a variety of economic problems, Dolly felt it was high-time for a feel-good movie about "a little town that's going through their problems, like everyone is these days."
Dolly plays G.G. Sparrow in "Joyful Noise," which focuses on a choir member at odds with the choir’s current director, played by Queen Latifah, at a church trying to win a national choral singing competition.
She was particularly excited to work with Queen Latifah.
“I always thought it'd be fun to work with her because everybody just loves her. And she is so cool and she's so funny. We really get along great. There's a great chemistry, which we hoped there would be, and it really comes through. There's a lot of magic in it.”
Many of the funniest parts of the movie are verbal battles between Latifah and Dolly, filled with classic "Dollyisms" like "God didn't put plastic surgeons on earth to starve." Amid the humor, the movie underscores the prevailing theme that people need to come together during hard times.
Dolly wrote three songs for the movie-- "Not Enough," "From Here to the Moon and Back," and "He’s Everything."
