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Dolly Parton (right) and Carl Thomas Dean in the mid \u201980s. Photo:Dolly Parton\/Instagram<\/p>\n
Carl Thomas Dean, Dolly Parton\u2019s ultra-private husband, has died at the age of 82.<\/p>\n
Dean married the country legend in 1966<\/a>\u00a0but eschewed the spotlight. He never attended public events with his wife, and the singer shared only a handful of photos of him over the years.<\/p>\n Parton shared the news of her longtime spouse\u2019s death\u00a0via Instagram<\/a>\u00a0on Monday, March 3.<\/p>\n \u201cCarl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,\u201d the post read.<\/p>\n \u201cCarl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can\u2019t do justice t the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,\u201d Parton\u2019s post continued. \u201cThe family asks for privacy during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean was born in Nashville, Tenn., in 1942. He was one of three children born to Virginia \u201cGinny\u201d Bates Dean and Edgar \u201cEd\u201d Henry Dean. Parton shared in her 1994 book\u00a0Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business<\/em>\u00a0that Dean was close to his grandmother Minnie Bates,<\/p>\n Not much is known of his life before he met Parton in 1964 outside a laundromat. She was 18 and was staying with her Uncle Bill, having just moved to Nashville to pursue her music career.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,\u201d she told\u00a0The New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 1976. \u201cI was in such a hurry to get here. And after I\u2019d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin\u2019 down the street, just lookin\u2019 at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein\u2019 from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go out with him. I mean, that was somethin\u2019 we was taught. You gotta know somebody or they may take you on a back road and kill you. But I said, \u2018You\u2019re welcome to come up to the house tomorrow because I\u2019m babysittin\u2019 my little nephew.\u2019 \u201d Dean came over every day that week, and the first time they went out together, he took her to meet his parents.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dolly Parton (left) and Carl Thomas Dean. Dolly Parton Instagram<\/p>\n \u201cMy first thought was \u2018I\u2019m gonna marry that girl,\u2019 \u201d Dean told\u00a0Entertainment Tonight<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 2016 in a rare public statement. \u201cMy second thought was, \u2018Lord she\u2019s good lookin.\u2019 \u201d And that was the day my life began. I wouldn\u2019t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t intended to marry,\u201d she told the\u00a0Times<\/em>. \u201cI hadn\u2019t intended to find anybody, but you know how love goes. And he understood that I had to do what I had come to Nashville to do.\u201d<\/p>\n They married<\/a>\u00a0in Ringgold, Ga., in 1966. Their only witnesses were her mother, the pastor and his wife. \u201cWe thought Ringgold because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day,\u201d she told\u00a0a local news station<\/a>\u00a0in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2012.\u00a0Parton told PEOPLE in 2012<\/a>\u00a0of their wedding,\u00a0\u201cIt was the first marriage for both of us. And the last.\u201d<\/p>\n Parton\u2019s 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. \u201cHe\u2019s sort of shy and quiet,\u201d\u00a0she told PEOPLE in a 1977<\/a>\u00a0cover story. She was happy to keep their relationship separate from her work life. \u201cWhat we have together is so sweet and good that I\u2019d never want it to get jumbled up with the other.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Dean inspired one of her most iconic songs: \u201cJolene.\u201d But the \u201creal\u201d Jolene didn\u2019t try to \u201ctake\u201d Dean; she was just flirtatious with him when she helped him at the bank. \u201cShe got this terrible crush on my husband,\u201d Parton told\u00a0NPR<\/a>\u00a0in 2008. \u201cAnd he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us \u2014 when I was saying, \u2018Hell, you\u2019re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don\u2019t believe we\u2019ve got that kind of money.\u2019 So it\u2019s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.\u201d The name Jolene came from a fan.<\/p>\n Parton\u2019s image in the \u201880s was very sexy, but she said that never bothered Dean. \u201cHe\u2019s not jealous, and I\u2019m not either,\u201d she told PEOPLE in 1981. \u201cCarl is the one man in my life. I would love to grow old with him. If he should die first, I may never marry again. My love is that deep.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean stayed primarily at their large home in Tara, outside of Nashville. One of his passions was buying and reselling trucks and tractors. \u201cHe likes his freedom,\u201d Parton told PEOPLE in 1982. \u201cIf I call him, that\u2019s fine, he ain\u2019t expectin\u2019 it. He doesn\u2019t like me home for long because it interferes with his tradin\u2019. So we never really have any hold on each other. And yet we have the ultimate hold.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1986, Parton\u2019s Dollywood theme park opened, and while many of Parton\u2019s friends and family were featured in the park, Dean\u2019s likeness was not, at his request. She told PEOPLE in 1986, \u201cCarl said, \u2018I want to go up there anytime I want, and I don\u2019t want somebody coming out of the museum and telling me, \u201cYou\u2019re Carl.\u201d \u2018 \u201d Parton did share\u00a0occasional photos of her husband<\/a>\u00a0on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cThey say that opposites attract, and it\u2019s true,\u201d\u00a0Parton explained to PEOPLE<\/a>\u00a0in 2015. \u201cWe\u2019re completely opposite, but that\u2019s what makes it fun. I never know what he\u2019s gonna say or do. He\u2019s always surprising me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy husband is a good man, first of all,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s a deep person, but he has a great and warped sense of humor. He makes me laugh and entertains me. He\u2019s very secure within himself.\u201d In 2016, Parton and Dean renewed their wedding vows.<\/p>\n \u201cI always joke and laugh when people ask me what\u2019s the key to my long marriage and lasting love,\u201d\u00a0she told PEOPLE in 2018<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cI always say \u2018Stay gone!\u2019 and there\u2019s a lot of truth to that. I travel a lot, but we really enjoy each other when we\u2019re together and the little things we do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur life is simple but easy. We don\u2019t even have that much company at home. We just like to be together,\u201d she said. They often took mini-road trips in her RV or had small picnics near their house.<\/p>\n Speaking to PEOPLE in 2021, Parton reflected on their decades together. \u201cMy husband and I, we\u2019ve been together 56 years. We\u2019ve just been married 54 years this past May. But we still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there\u2019s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he\u2019ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that\u2019s priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.tuko.co.ke\/images\/1120\/ad5d3161a9710206.jpeg?v=1\")
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