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Carl Thomas Dean, who stood faithfully by Dolly Parton's side for nearly six decades while deliberately avoiding the spotlight, died on March 3, 2025, at age 82 in Nashville. The cause of death was not disclosed.
"Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years," Parton stated in her social media announcement. Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony attended only by immediate family.
Their love story began in 1964 outside a Nashville laundromat. An 18-year-old Parton, newly arrived to pursue her music dreams, met 21-year-old Dean. "My first thought was 'I'm gonna marry that girl,'" Dean recalled in a rare 2016 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "My second thought was, 'Lord she's good lookin'.' And that was the day my life began."
The couple married on Memorial Day 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia, with only Parton's mother and the pastor and his wife present. "We thought Ringgold because we knew that was where you could get your license and get married the same day," Parton explained to a Chattanooga news station in 2012.
While Parton rose to international fame, Dean maintained his asphalt-paving business and cherished his privacy. "He's not jealous, and I'm not either," Parton told PEOPLE in 1981. "Carl is the one man in my life. I would love to grow old with him."
Dean's deliberate avoidance of public attention became legendary. After attending one awards dinner where he was "absolutely miserable," he told Parton: "I want you to do really well," but added he "ain't ever going to more of them damn things."
Parton's iconic song "Jolene" was inspired by a flirtatious bank teller who paid Dean attention. "It was kinda like a running joke between us," Parton explained to NPR in 2008. Her 2012 love ballad "From Here to the Moon and Back" and aspects of her 2023 "Rockstar" album were also influenced by Dean.
"They think I just made him up," Parton joked in a 2024 interview, referring to public speculation about her seldom-seen husband.
The couple celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2016 by renewing their vows. "I always joke when people ask what's the key to my long marriage," Parton told PEOPLE in 2018. "I always say 'Stay gone!' and there's a lot of truth to that."
Dean is survived by Parton and his siblings Sandra and Donnie. As Parton once reflected: "God has been good to me. He gave me Carl Dean. And that was the perfect man that I needed."
