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Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, passed away on Monday, March 3, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 82 years old.
According to a statement released by Parton’s publicist to The Associated Press, Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony attended only by immediate family members. The family has requested privacy during this difficult time, and no cause of death has been disclosed.
Dolly Parton Shares Heartfelt Tribute
Reflecting on their decades-long relationship, Parton expressed her grief in a heartfelt statement.
“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.
JUST IN: Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, has passed away at the age of 82 after nearly 60 years of marriage.
Parton met Dean the day she moved to Nashville at 18 years old.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for… pic.twitter.com/6kNWJxDnSR
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 4, 2025
A Love Story That Began in Nashville
Parton and Dean first met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat on the very day the singer moved to Nashville at age 18.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton recalled of their first meeting. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Their relationship quickly blossomed, and they tied the knot two years later in a small, private ceremony on May 30, 1966, in Ringgold, Georgia.
Carl Dean’s Life and Legacy
Dean was a businessman who owned an asphalt-paving company in Nashville. He was born to Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean and had two siblings, Sandra and Donnie. Parton affectionately referred to his mother as “Mama Dean.”
Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings.
A Private Life Away from the Spotlight
Throughout their marriage, Dean remained out of the public eye, leading many to speculate about his existence. In a 1984 interview, Parton humorously addressed the rumors.
“A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me,” she said.
She once joked that she considered posing with him for a magazine cover “so that people could at least know that I’m not married to a wart or something.”
Despite his preference for privacy, Dean was a constant source of support throughout Parton’s illustrious career, and their enduring love story remains one of country music’s most cherished romances.
