Carl Thomas Dean, the reclusive husband of Dolly Parton, has passed away at the age of 82.
Dean married the country music icon in 1966 but remained out of the public eye throughout their marriage. He never accompanied Parton to public events, and she shared only a few photos of him over the years.
Parton announced the passing of her longtime husband on Instagram on Monday, March 3. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,” the post stated.
“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,” Parton’s post continued. “The family asks for privacy during this difficult time.”
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942, Dean was one of three children of Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean. In her 1994 book, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Parton wrote that Dean had a close bond with his grandmother, Minnie Bates.
Their Love Story
Little is known about Dean’s life before he met Parton in 1964 outside a laundromat. At the time, she was 18 and had just moved to Nashville to pursue her music career while staying with her Uncle Bill.
Dolly Parton and Her Husband“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” she told in 1976. “I was in such a hurry to get here. And after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”
“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,” she recalled.
Initially hesitant to go on a date with him, she instead invited him to her uncle’s house the next day, where she was babysitting her nephew. Dean visited daily that week, and when they eventually went out, he introduced her to his parents.
In a rare public statement in 2016, Dean told, “My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord, she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
Although Parton had no intention of marrying at the time, love changed her plans. The couple wed in Ringgold, Georgia, in 1966 in a private ceremony attended only by Parton’s mother, the pastor, and the pastor’s wife. “We thought Ringgold because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day,” she told a Chattanooga news station in 2012. Speaking the same year, she said, “It was the first marriage for both of us. And the last.”
A Private Life
As Parton’s career soared in the late 1960s, Dean stayed out of the limelight, running his asphalt business. “He’s sort of shy and quiet,” she told PEOPLE in 1977. Their decision to keep their relationship separate from her professional life was intentional. “What we have together is so sweet and good that I’d never want it to get jumbled up with the other.”
Still, Dean inspired one of Parton’s most famous songs, “Jolene.” Contrary to the lyrics, the real Jolene never tried to steal him away—she was simply a bank teller who flirted with him. “She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us.” The name “Jolene” came from a fan.
Despite Parton’s glamorous public persona, Dean remained unbothered by her image. “He’s not jealous, and I’m not either,” she told in 1981. “Carl is the one man in my life. I would love to grow old with him. If he should die first, I may never marry again. My love is that deep.”
Dean preferred life at their Tennessee home, where he enjoyed trading trucks and tractors. “He likes his freedom,” Parton shared in 1982. “If I call him, that’s fine, he ain’t expectin’ it. He doesn’t like me home for long because it interferes with his tradin’. So we never really have any hold on each other. And yet we have the ultimate hold.”
When Dollywood opened in 1986, Dean asked not to be included. “Carl said, ‘I want to go up there anytime I want, and I don’t want somebody coming out of the museum and telling me, “You’re Carl.” ’” Parton occasionally shared photos of him on social media, but he remained largely out of the public eye.
“They say opposites attract, and it’s true,” Parton told in 2015. “We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun. I never know what he’s gonna say or do. He’s always surprising me.”
Parton described her husband as a private yet humorous man. “My husband is a good man, first of all,” she said. “He’s a deep person, but he has a great and warped sense of humor. He makes me laugh and entertains me. He’s very secure within himself.” In 2016, the couple renewed their wedding vows.
“I always joke and laugh when people ask me what’s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,” she told in 2018. “I always say, ‘Stay gone!’ and there’s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we’re together and the little things we do.”
“Our life is simple but easy. We don’t even have that much company at home. We just like to be together,” she said. The couple enjoyed road trips in their RV and quiet picnics near their house.
In a 2021 interview with PEOPLE, Parton reminisced about their decades together. “My husband and I, we’ve been together 56 years. We’ve just been married 54 years this past May. But we still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there’s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he’ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that’s priceless.”
“He’s always supporting me as long as I don’t try to drag him in on it,” she said in 2019. “He’s always been my biggest fan behind the scenes, but he’s at home.” Dean is survived by his wife and siblings.