Iconic country star, philanthropist and actor Dolly Parton has been laid to rest, according to a social media post from her niece.
Lainey Parton shared an emotional tribute on Instagram to her “granny” after the private Aug. 28 ceremony. In the moving post, Lainey Parton described her famous aunt, who died on Aug. 25 at the age of 80, as a kind individual who treated her as her own child.
“This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words,” Lainey Parton wrote. “From the time I was little, my granny always had a way of making me feel like I was enough. She never made my dreams feel too big or made me feel like I couldn’t do something. She believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself.”
Lainey Parton continued, saying that she “can’t think of” a single bad memory of her aunt.
“Because she couldn’t have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers,” Lainey Parton wrote in the post. “She loved us that way, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
Dolly Parton died after “a brief battle with cancer” at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee, according to a statement from her estate. In a video message posted on the singer’s Instagram, her nephew Bryan Seaver shared that Dolly Parton had requested a simple burial.
“Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest,” Seaver said in the video.
“Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all,” he added. “She will always love you.”
In Lainey Parton’s social media post, the niece looked back on a warm memory she had of Dolly Parton, who had asked her to sing on the 2024 album “Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables.”
“I was a freshman in high school and SO nervous. But she had a way of making me feel like nothing bad could happen,” Lainey Parton recounted. “She made me feel safe, confident, and like I belonged right there beside her.As I got older, she continued to believe in me.”
Lainey Parton also described how her aunt was supportive of her decision to go to beauty school.
“When I told her I wanted to go to beauty school, she never questioned why I wasn’t going to college. She told me she couldn’t see me doing anything else,” she wrote. “She financially supported me through school and helped me get my career started. She didn’t just tell me to chase my dreams, she helped me get there.”
Lainey Parton added that the loss still “doesn’t feel real,” but thanked those who have reached out in support of the family.
“I’m going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there. I’m even going to miss those 4 AM calls, and I’d give anything to see her name pop up on my phone again,” she wrote. “I feel incredibly lucky that I got to call her my granny.”
Lainey Parton concluded with a message to her late aunt.
