Stella Parton has broken her silence following her sister Dolly’s death with a raw Facebook tribute centered on their decades-long weekly ritual.
The younger sister, 75, posted the message days after Dolly Parton, 80, died on Tuesday, August 25, at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville following what her team called a ‘brief battle with cancer.’ Stella’s tribute focused on the private bond the two shared rather than Dolly’s global fame, revealing a Tuesday morning tradition that had stretched across years.
‘My big sister Dolly got her wings this past Tuesday,’ Stella wrote on Facebook, adding that she was certain Dolly ‘made it right on time’ to heaven, ‘in all her sparkles and shine.’
The sisters’ weekly appointment was simple and unshakable: coffee over the phone, every Tuesday morning, just before sunrise. Stella recalled how, as ‘little farm girls,’ they’d always been early risers, with Dolly fond of saying: ‘shoot Tedda we get more work done before the sun comes up than most folks do all day long!’
Stella described her sister as ‘one of the most generous, thoughtful and kind people I’ve ever known,’ revealing that Dolly had told her she would still let doctors try experimental treatment on her, even without hope for herself, purely to help future patients.
Dolly had been admitted to the cancer center on Friday, August 21, four days before her death, and passed away surrounded by loved ones, according to a statement given to PEOPLE. Her team praised her for ‘bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched,’ pointing to the ‘hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library’ and funding she provided toward a lifesaving vaccine used worldwide.
Seaver, who served as Dolly’s head of security for more than two decades, also addressed the loss in deeply personal terms, calling it ‘an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness.’ He added that ‘sadness lies with us, not with Dolly,’ saying he believes she has been reunited with her late husband, Carl, and her parents.
Just days before she died, Dolly herself had spoken to PEOPLE about her declining health, admitting she’d been ‘dealing with some health issues’ she hadn’t paid close attention to while caring for Carl. She compared it to a rough patch in the early 1980s, joking that constant social media scrutiny now made everything feel bigger than it used to: ‘I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI!’ Even so, she insisted she wasn’t done yet, saying she still had ‘so many things I want to achieve.’
Dolly was predeceased by Carl Dean, her husband of nearly 60 years, who died in March 2025 at age 82. She leaves behind a catalogue few artists can match, having sold more than 160 million albums since her 1967 debut, ‘Hello, I’m Dolly,’ and later hits including ‘I Will Always Love You’ and ‘9 to 5.’
Stella closed her tribute with a direct message to fans: ‘She left the world a better place by being in it so let’s follow her example.’
Dolly Parton’s team has not announced any memorial service details.