The Stunning Transformation Of Dolly Parton

She launched a successful theme park

In 1986, Dolly partnered with the Herschend Brothers, founder of Silver Dollar City, an attraction just beside the Great Smoky Mountains. Dollywood was born, and it is one of Tennessee’s most popular tourist destinations. The theme park boasts lots of shows and rides, including the world’s fastest wooden roller coaster, the Lightning Rod. The water park features gorgeous scenery and lots of water slides. There’s a resort with a spa, convention center, and other features, or you can rent one of Dollywood’s cabins for a family getaway.

In 2010, Dollywood won the amusement park industry’s top theme park award, called the Liseberg Applause Award. It was in its 25th year at the time and represented a total of $1 billion in accumulated payroll in the area. Since most of Dollywood’s employees are local, Dollywood is important to the community and is the area’s largest employer. Dollywood was the only U.S.-based theme park nominated that year.

She gives back in so many ways

Dolly has never forgotten what it was like to grow up in an impoverished region. She is passionate about giving, and she gives financially and with her time to a number of organizations. She also founded the Dollywood Foundation, which is the 503 (c)(3) behind Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This organization started in 1995 and is designed to benefit the children in east Tennessee, particularly to promote literacy and mail one book every month to children from birth to 5 years old, regardless of the family’s income. Dolly says that her own father didn’t know how to read or write and that he could have accomplished much more if he’d had an opportunity for an education.

The Dollywood Foundation has also responded to the wildfires in the Gatlinburg, Tenn., area. She took to Facebook to urge people to help her help the families who lost everything in the fires. She personally pledged $1,000 per month to newly homeless victims via her My People Fund. The families will receive this money from the foundation for six months to help them try to put their lives back together.

She stays true to her one true love

Dolly met Carl Dean that first day in Nashville, and they’ve been together ever since. They married in 1966, and when asked how the marriage has lasted so long, Dolly says, “Forty-seven of those years I was gone.” All jokes aside, the love is real, and to celebrate it, they renewed their vows in a private ceremony on May 30, 2016, on their 50th wedding anniversary. And, in true Dolly fashion, she auctioned off photos to the highest bidder, with all the money dedicated to children’s charities.

Carl has been historically silent, but for their 50th anniversary, he agreed to open up a bit. He and Dolly issued a press release, and Dolly started a hashtag #DollyAndCarl so fans could ask questions. In a feature on Oprah’s website, Dolly said, “He’s always loved who I was, and I loved who he was, and we never tried to change each other.” On Dolly’s own website, we learn that she wrote the song “From Here to the Moon and Back” for Carl.