Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, has passed away at the age of 82. Dean died on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, after nearly 60 years of marriage to Parton, who shared the news in a heartfelt statement on social media.
“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 wrote.
The couple first met when Parton arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer, and Dean approached her outside a laundromat. Parton, 79, recalled their first meeting fondly, saying, “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 later, on May 30, 1966, the couple married in a private ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia. Despite their long marriage, Dean largely stayed out of the public eye, preferring to focus on his asphalt-paving business in Nashville.
Though he avoided the spotlight, Dean had a notable influence on Parton’s music, particularly inspiring her iconic song “Jolene.” Parton revealed in a 2008 interview that the song was inspired by a bank teller who developed a crush on her husband.
Despite their private life, the couple became the subject of rumors, with some people even speculating that Carl Dean didn’t exist. Parton humorously addressed the rumors in 1984, saying, “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”
Parton and Dean did not have children together. He is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie.
