The world learned of the passing of Carl Dean,On March 3, 2025, the beloved husband of renowned country music icon Dolly Parton. Dean died at the age of 82, a poignant conclusion to a nearly six-decade-long union characterized by love and mutual respect. Parton announced his death via social media, expressing her profound grief and gratitude for their time together. This announcement not only highlighted their personal bond but also marked the end of an era for both Dean and Parton as a couple.
According to a statement provided to The Associated Press by Parton’s publicist, Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.
The family has asked for respect and privacy at this time. No cause of death was announced.
Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18.
The family has asked for respect and privacy. No cause of death was announced.
Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at 18.
They married in Ringgold, Ga., in 1966. Their only witnesses were her mother, the pastor and his wife. "We thought Ringgold because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day," she told a local news station in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2012. Parton told PEOPLE in 2012 of their wedding, “It was the first marriage for both of us. And the last.”
Parton’s star began to rise in the late 1960s, and while Dean supported her, he stayed far in the background and focused on his asphalt business. “He’s sort of shy and quiet,” she said in a 1977 cover story. She was happy to keep their relationship separate from her work life. “What we have together is so sweet and good that I’d never want it to get jumbled up with the other.”
Parton and Dean kept strict privacy around their relationship for decades, Parton: “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 joked that she’d like to pose with him on the cover of a magazine “so that people could at least know that I’m not married to a wart or something.”
Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.
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