Carl Dean was a private man from the day he met his wife, Dolly Parton, until the day he died. Dean died in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 3, nearly sixty years after he and Parton tied the knot.
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“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” Parton wrote on Instagram after her husband’s death. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
So who exactly was Parton’s longtime love? Keep reading for three quick facts about Dean.
Carl Dean Met Dolly Parton in Front of a Laundromat
Parton and Dean’s love story is straight out of a rom-com. The pair met on a then-18-year-old Parton’s very first day in Nashville outside of the Wishy Washy Laundromat.
“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” Parton told The New York Times in 1976. “I was in such a hurry to get here—and after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”
At the time, Parton was living with her aunt and uncle and babysitting their son.
“He came up every day that week and we sat out on the porch. I wouldn’t even take him in the house,” Parton told the outlet of her then-21-year-old beau. Eventually, Dean picked her up and took her to his house.
“That was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl, and he drove me straight to his folks’ house and introduced me to his mother and daddy,” she said. “‘Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that’s the one he wanted.”
The pair tied the knot in 1966 and were together for the nearly six decades that followed.
Carl Dean Was a Businessman
While Parton was busy making waves in the music business, Dean had a far less glamorous job. As far back as 1977, Dean ran an asphalt-laying company in Nashville, People reported.
Dean was so private that no other information about his career is readily available. That’s certainly not true of Parton, though. Amid Dean’s professional ventures, he was absent from Parton’s many public-facing events. That decision was made after Dean attended an industry event with Parton in 1966.
“[After the event] Carl turned to me and said, ‘Dolly, I want you to have everything you want, and I’m happy for you, but don’t you ever ask me to go to another one of them dang things again!’” Parton once said, per People.
Parton granted his request and Dean isn’t known to have attended any other events with his wife. That doesn’t mean he didn’t support her, though.
“There’s always that safety, that security, that strength,” Parton told Knox News of being with Dean. “He’s a good man, and we’ve had a good life and he’s been a good husband.”
Carl Dean Rarely Watched Dolly Parton Perform
Though Dean always supported Parton behind-the-scenes, he wasn’t present at many of her shows.
“No, he doesn’t like to do that,” Parton told Ellen DeGeneres of Dean. “He gets nervous seeing me perform. It’s almost like seeing your kid in a recital. He’s afraid I’ll mess up.”
“Actually, he has seen me a time or two and it did relax him a little,” she continued. “He saw that I do mess up and it’s OK because people are not gonna punish me for it.”
Parton’s accomplishments still meant a lot to Dean, who made it a point to watch from the wings.
“I married a really good man, a guy that’s completely different from me,” Parton told Parade. “He’s not in show business. He’s not resentful of any of that. He loves to hear about the things I do. I love to hear about the things he does. So we enjoy each other’s company. We get along good.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for American Greetings
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