Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at 80 at her home in Nashville, Tennessee, was known for her country chart-toppers, outsized blonde hair and an equally outsized, bubbly personality.
But another part of her legacy has nothing to do with her music or that iconic bouffant. (“The higher the hair, the closer to God,” she joked, in true Southern girl fashion.) Starting in the 1980s, Parton devoted herself to philanthropy, building a charitable legacy through her Dollywood Foundation that arguably puts her in the ranks of any Carnegie or Rockefeller. (Plus, she did it without the robber-baron baggage — and with rhinestones and wigs on.)
Did you get a COVID vaccine? You have Parton to thank in part for that. The “9 to 5” singer donated $1 million in April 2020 to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, funding early-stage research that helped develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. (At the time, a humble Parton said she played a “small part” in the vaccine’s development; fans joked that she “saved the world.”)
Received a free book every month as a child through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library? You’re not alone. Since 1995, Parton and her Dollywood Foundation have gifted over 300 million free books to children in thousands of communities across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland and Australia.
