Carl Dean, Husband of Dolly Parton, Dead at 82

Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, passed away on Monday. He was 82. 

"Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years," Parton said in a statement posted on social media. "Thank you for your prayers and sympathy." 

"The family has asked for privacy during this difficult time," the statement concluded.

According to AP News, Dolly was 18 when she first met Dean outside of the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville. "I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me)," she said of their interaction. "He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about." 

Parton said in a 1976 interview with the New York Times that she would not go out on a date with him, but Dean came to her home every day for a week where they stayed on the porch together.  

"I wouldn't go out with him. I mean, that was somethin’ we was taught," she said. "You gotta know somebody or they may take you on a back road and kill you. But I said, 'You're welcome to come up to the house tomorrow because I'm baby‐sittin' my little nephew.'"

"He came up every day that week and we set out on the porch," she continued. "I wouldn't even take him in the house. Then my aunt got a day off, and she could keep the kid and that was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl and he drove me straight to his folks’ house and introduced me to his mother and daddy. Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that's the one he wanted."

They got married on Memorial Day in 1966 after two years together.

Dean and Dolly celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2016 by renewing their vows in the city where their romance started. 

"My first thought was 'I'm gonna marry that girl,'" Dean said about the first time he saw Dolly, according to Entertainment Tonight. "My second thought was, 'Lord she’s good lookin.' And that was the day my life began. I wouldn't trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth."