DANVILLE, Ky. — Dolly Parton’s connection to Kentucky stretched far beyond the country music stages where generations of fans came to hear her sing.
For thousands of Kentucky children, her name arrived in the mail each month on the cover of a book.
Parton, the country music icon, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist whose career spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.
Born Jan. 19, 1946, in rural East Tennessee, Parton rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most recognizable entertainers in American history. She wrote hundreds of songs, including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” with her music totaling more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams.
Her influence reached film and television as well. Parton starred in movies including “9 to 5,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Steel Magnolias,” while also building a business empire centered in her native Appalachia.
Danville was among the Kentucky communities that had the opportunity to welcome Parton during her long career.
She performed before a packed Newlin Hall at Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts in 2005 and returned to the Norton Center on Aug. 9, 2016. Her 2016 appearance was the only Kentucky stop on her “Pure & Simple” tour.
Those appearances placed Parton among the long list of internationally recognized performers who have taken the Norton Center stage. Centre College continues to include her among the notable artists in the performing arts center’s history.
Parton’s impact on Kentucky, however, extended well beyond entertainment.
One of the defining pieces of her legacy was Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the childhood literacy program she founded in 1995 in honor of her father, Robert Lee Parton, who could not read or write.
The program mails free, age-appropriate books each month to children from birth until age 5.
What began in Parton’s home county in Tennessee eventually grew into an international effort that has distributed hundreds of millions of books. Parton’s philanthropy, particularly her focus on childhood literacy, became as closely associated with her as many of her songs.
Kentucky became a significant part of that effort.
State lawmakers established the Imagination Library of Kentucky program in 2022, building on earlier local partnerships and state funding. By June 2024, the program had expanded into every Kentucky county, making every preschool-age child in the commonwealth eligible to receive a free book each month.
Parton traveled to Lexington in August 2024 to celebrate the statewide expansion with Gov. Andy Beshear, first lady Britainy Beshear and more than 500 library workers, literacy advocates and local program partners.
At the time, more than 6 million books had already been delivered to Kentucky children through the program. Beshear proclaimed August Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Kentucky Month and named Parton a member of the Honorary Order of Kentucky Colonels.
The program continued growing in the years that followed.
The Imagination Library of Kentucky currently reports that more than 132,000 Kentucky children receive books through the program, representing about 51% of eligible children younger than 5. More than 6 million books have been delivered in Kentucky since the program first reached the state.
That work also reached families in Boyle County, where local children can receive a new book in the mail every month at no cost to their families.
Parton’s charitable work extended beyond literacy. She supported disaster relief, children’s health care and medical research and donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support research that contributed to the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Her humanitarian work earned her the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022.
Her death prompted tributes from fellow musicians, actors, public officials and fans around the world, many remembering not only the music she created but the generosity that defined much of her life outside the spotlight.
Parton’s connection to Danville included two performances at Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts, first in 2005 and again in 2016.
Her influence in Kentucky extended well beyond those appearances. Through the Imagination Library and other charitable efforts, Parton’s work continues to benefit children and families across the commonwealth.