Dolly Parton and Carl Thomas Dean fell in love more than six decades ago and were married for almost 59 years when he passed away Monday, March 3, at age 82.
“Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” the singer wrote on her Instagram page as she announced her husband’s death.
Their relationship had elements of the opposites-attract dynamic.
Dean was fiercely private, with few public images of him available and headlines calling him “a man of mystery,” while Parton is one of the most famous faces in the world.
The vivacious and outgoing country music star described her husband as a quiet, reserved person who was “kind of a loner” and didn’t like being with anybody but her.
“We’re different people,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2023. “But we just work so well together.”
Here are some of the couple’s marriage secrets:
Opposites attract
The couple met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat in Nashville, Tennessee, on the first day Parton moved there, according to her official website.
She recalled walking down the street after putting her clothes into the washing machine when “this guy hollered at me” and came over to talk, Parton recalled in The New York Times.
“My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,'” Dean told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began.”
Parton was “surprised and delighted” that he looked at her face while they talked and seemed to be genuinely interested in her as a person.
They couple was married two years later, on May 30, 1966.
“They say that opposites attract, and it’s true,” Parton told People in 2015. “We’re completely opposite, but that’s what makes it fun. I never know what he’s gonna say or do. He’s always surprising me.”
Dean was not in the music business and wanted to stay out of the spotlight, which she respected.
Appreciate what you have with your spouse
In a 1982 interview with Barbara Walters, Parton said she and her husband were both “flirts,” but knew where to set the limit.
“There are these good-looking guys that come on to you pretty strong. And every now and then, I like to come on pretty strong myself,” the singer said. “But I know that I’ve got something at home, that I wouldn’t threaten or take a chance on losing for anything in the world.”
She noted her husband was always supportive of her and proud of their long union.
“There’s always that safety, that security, that strength,” Parton told Knox News about being married to Dean. “He’s a good man, and we’ve had a good life and he’s been a good husband.”
Spend some time apart
It’s important to give each other space, Parton said.
“When people say, ‘How did it last so long?’ I say, ‘I stay going,’” Parton said. “So we’re not in each other’s face all the time.”
The singer always traveled a lot, so the couple really enjoyed each other when she was back home.
They had different interests, but also things they loved to do together, she added.
Understand each other
Even though he was not in show business, Dean knew the demands it placed on his wife and wasn’t resentful of the attention she received from audiences or the famous people she performed with.
“He understands me, he gets me. He’s very secure within himself. He’s never been jealous. It’s a great compliment to me,” Parton told Parade in 2015.
“I realize I’d never find that again in anybody. He loves me and I love him.”
Keep laughing
Parton credited her husband’s sense of humor, as well as her own, for being “one of the best things” that’s helped them maintain a healthy relationship.
“Even if you have a problem, if you have a great sense of humor, if you say something you can’t take back (you) usually have some crazy way of getting out of it,” she said.
Keep things spicy
Parton dressed up in a Playboy bunny outfit for her husband’s 79th birthday in 2021. He always liked the magazine’s covers, and she was trying to make him happy, she said.
