After 17 months apart, Dolly Parton was reunited with her husband, Carl Dean, as she was laid to rest during a private family funeral.

Dolly Parton and Carl Dean's private love story began at a Nashville laundromat in 1964 and endured nearly 60 years away from the spotlight.

Dolly Parton was one of the most beloved stars on the planet. As a singer, actress and philanthropist, she loomed larger than life; as a wife, she kept a veil of privacy over her marriage to late husband Carl Dean,

Parton and Dean were married for over 60 years after meeting at a laundromat two days after her graduation

Before his death in 2025, Carl Dean spent nearly six decades married to Dolly Parton. Here's how they met and what we know about his death.

The couple were married for nearly 60 years before their respective deaths.

They certainly had a unique relationship, but it worked for them. On August 25, 2026, Dolly Parton sadly passed away at 80-years-old in Nashville Tennessee. Dolly had been dealing with undisclosed health issues for the last year or so,

Dolly Parton got candid about confronting her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, over the real-life woman who inspired her song "Jolene" in a resurfaced video. "[Carl] kept going down to the bank," Parton recalled in a resurfaced video from a March 2022 show in Houston,