Dolly Parton’s humble final words before her death revealed
Dolly Parton’s family have revealed the last thing the country music icon requested before she died on August 25, aged 80.
Dolly’s sister Stella Parton, 77, was at her side in her final moments and said the multi-millionaire’s final request had nothing to do with her fortune or fame.
Stella Parton was at sister Dolly Parton’s side in her final moments. Getty/Terry Wyatt
“The last thing Dolly asked me for was prayer,” Stella told CBS Mornings on Thursday (US time).
“My sister worked so hard for so long and just kept going. Even until the last conversation I had with her, she was working.”
But in her final moments, all Dolly wanted was prayer.
Born and raised in Tennessee, she and Stella grew up surrounded by religion and maintained a deep faith until her death.
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“Every single day, before I do anything, I wake up and I thank God for the night and ask Him to bless the day and to bring ... all the wrong people out of my life, and bring all the right stuff in,” she told Marie Claire in 2020.
Dolly’s maternal grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, and the pastor at the local church Dolly and her siblings attended as children.
That church was also where she started performing at just six years old, and where her love of music blossomed.
Dolly Parton grew up surrounded by religion and was a woman of deep faith even until her death. RCA Records and Tapes
She often spoke of her own faith and how it helped her, but was adamant that she didn’t want to force it upon anyone else.
“Whether you believe in God or not, whether you call it Mother Nature or Father Time or a higher wisdom, you need to believe in yourself and you need to believe there’s a force that can push you and lead you on,” she told the New Humanist magazine in 2024.
“I’m not a religious fanatic. I wouldn’t even say I’m religious, though I grew up with that background.”
Stella opened up about her sister’s choice to hide the truth about her health from family during the same interview with CBS Mornings.
Stella Parton has spoken out about her sister Dolly Parton’s decision to keep her cancer battle private. CBS
“Dolly could not bear negative things, and she would not have wanted her fans worried about it,” she said.
“She didn’t want a lot of the family worried about it.”
Stella clarified that some of the family were aware of the diagnosis, “the ones that were closer”, but that Dolly “did not want to see people sad”.
