Dolly Parton is choosing to keep her decades-long anniversary tradition going after her beloved husband’s death.
For more than half a century, the country veteran and her late husband Carl Dean would make a pilgrimage to Ringgold, Ga. to visit the church they were married in. The couple would enjoy a picnic together in celebration of their love.
This year was Parton’s first time making the trip by herself after Carl died on March 3, 2025.
“We got married down in Ringgold, Georgia and we would always go down to Ringgold in and around our anniversary every year since we were married,” Parton tells FOX News.
“And so I went down there the other day on our anniversary,” she continues. “And they put a big plaque up in the yard of that church where we got married. It talks about us getting married there.”
“So anyway, that’s where I spent my anniversary, out first — my first — our anniversary without him, the first one. So I though, well, I have to go back and just take a picture on the same steps at that same church,” she adds.
Parton explains that Carl was with her in spirit in that moment. She also brought along some personal items for the occasion.
“I put his wedding ring around my little gold chain and wore it,” she shares. “And I wore my little original wedding rings and just stood there.”
“It was just so sweet. It was good for me.”
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean’s Relationship Timeline
Parton and Dean met on the day the country singer moved to Nashville in 1964. He spotted her outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat and wasted no time in asking her out.
The couple were married on May 30, 1966 at the 1st Baptist Church in Ringgold. It was a tiny ceremony, with just the pastor and his wife and Parton’s mother in attendance.
“I said, I’ve got to have mama there,'” the country icon explained to People. “So I had bought a little dress, mama had bought me a Bible, some flowers on it. We grabbed mama and went back, and got married on a Monday in a church.”
It was a quiet wedding, and both she and Carl were back at work the next day.
Despite Parton’s career as a country music superstar, her husband opted to stay out of the spotlight. She was able to coax him to one awards show, but he was so uncomfortable that he never did it again.
He was a big advocate for her dreams, however. This year would have been the couple’s 59th wedding anniversary.
30 Photos of Dolly Parton Young
Dolly Parton has been a fixture in country music and really, all of entertainment, since the 1960s. The only thing that has changed about the icon is her age — she’s as radiant as she’s ever been! Check out these pictures of a young Dolly Parton.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
