One of the final videos Dolly Parton posted was a heartfelt thank you to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The pair donated 2 million dollars to her Imagination Library around the time of their wedding.
Dolly Parton’s Final Message to Taylor Swift
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Parton said on Instagram at the time. “I’m blown away and overjoyed. Now it’s evident that you two have made giving back a key part of your lives. So, hey, when you have your firstborn, can I have it? Because that is going to be one special baby!”
Videos by American Songwriter
“I wish you both the best, and know that I will always love you,” she continued in the caption. In the wake of Parton’s passing, this tender video feels all the more precious, given it was one of her final public appearances.
Swift has long feted Parton as one of the legends that helped inspire her own career in music. “Dolly is a force of evolution and transformation in our industry, but she does it with such playful levity it almost looks effortless,” Swift once said. “Her sense of humor and mischief are easily my favorite things about her, because I think it forces the world to reconcile that a woman can be a serious artist and writer who also has raucous fun with it, can make people laugh and be in on every joke.”
Given her love for Parton, her and Kelce’s large donation to the Imagination Library feels apt. The pair donated to many causes before their New York City wedding, all focused on arts, animal welfare, hunger relief, medicine and more.
Many of Parton’s peers have spoken about her legacy in the wake of her passing, including close friend Reba McEntire.
“Well, I just got the news that my buddy Dolly passed onto the higher and greater side,” she posted on Instagram. “Dolly, thank you for all the wonderful things you did for us here on earth. Your love, your music, and you gave so much with your huge, huge heart. There will never ever be another you. We will remember and cherish every memory and every note you ever played and sang. Thank you, Lord, for Dolly. She’s gonna have a blast in heaven singing all her favorite songs with all her family and friends who have gone on before her.”
McEntire’s message was just one of the millions pouring in for the late icon, who passed at age 80. Parton is set to have an intimate memorial service in Nashville and then be buried next to her late husband, Carl Dean.
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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