March 04, (THEWILL) – Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music icon Dolly Parton, died on Monday at the age of 82.
Dean, who was famously private throughout his nearly 60-year marriage to Parton, died in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton said in a statement posted on social media.
Parton met Dean outside a laundromat on the first day she arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer.
The 79-year-old singer recalled their first meeting, saying, “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Two years later, on May 30, 1966, the couple exchanged vows at a private ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.
Parton and Dean had no children together.
He is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie, the statement added.
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