Dolly Parton paid loving tribute to her late husband, Carl Dean, in her first public appearance since his death at age 82 earlier this month.
“Of course I will always love him, and I’ll miss him, but I wanted you to know that I will always love you,” Parton, 79, told fans at a 40th anniversary celebration of her theme park, Dollywood, on Friday, March 14.
She went on: “I just want all of you to know how much I appreciate you for everything that’s happened to us in the last several years. I just want to take a minute to thank all of you for all the flowers and cards, and the well-wishes, for the loss of Carl. You know how I loved him and he would want me to be working today. I expect to be working.”
Parton spoke to Dollywood annual pass-holders at the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, venue to announce upgrades for the park’s spring and summer season, according to WSPA News. The legendary country singer also celebrated the beginning of her annual I Will Always Love You Music Festival, which launched on Friday and runs at Dollywood through April 13.
Parton’s appearance at Dollywood on Friday came just 11 days after she publicly announced the death of her husband of nearly 60 years on March 3.
“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,” she wrote via Instagram.
Parton spoke out once again via social media on March 6 to thank her friends and fans from around the world for paying their respects following “the loss of [her] beloved husband Carl.”
“I can’t reach out personally to each of you but just know it has meant the world to me. He is in God’s arms now and I am OK with that. I will always love you,” she acknowledged.
On March 7, Parton debuted a poignant and gripping new single, titled “If You Hadn’t Been There,” as a tribute to her and Dean’s enduring love story.
“Carl and I fell in love when I was 18 and he was 23, and like all great love stories, they never end. They live in memory and in song, and I dedicate this to him,” she wrote via Instagram.
The couple were married on May 30, 1966, in Georgia but were rarely seen together in public because Dean preferred to live away from the public eye. Dean ran his own asphalt and driveway paving business in Nashville throughout the first few decades of their marriage.
Many of Parton’s famous friends and fans have publicly memorialized Dean, including country music superstars Jessie James Decker and Lainey Wilson.
“Oh my heart! I am so sorry for your loss! My heart aches for you! My deepest condolences,” Khloé Kardashian wrote via Instagram, adding, “Praying for you and sending you love and prayers.”
Parton’s appearance at Dollywood on Friday came after a period of extensive reconstruction at the theme park, which originally opened as “Rebel Railroad” in 1961. The country music icon purchased an ownership stake in the theme park in 1986 and rebranded it as Dollywood.
She told ABC News in 2010 that she got involved with the entertainment venue as a way to give back to the community that nurtured her as an aspiring young singer.
“I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area,” she explained.
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