Honoring the Late and Great Dolly Parton

Reading and writing are two of some of my most favorite things to do in life. Reading takes you to other worlds you may not be able to visit in your lifetime or even worlds that don’t exactly exist in reality. Writing lets you create them. As we sadly lost one of the greatest icons in our society this week, it reminded me of something special that some of you might not be aware of.

Dolly Parton was well known for her music or for even being the godmother to the famous Miley Cyrus, but a lot of fans might be unaware that her father never learned how to read or write. Knowing how tragic this was that her father spent his whole life not knowing how to read or write, Dolly created something beautiful and life changing as a result of it. She created The Imagination Library.

The Imagination Library started in Tennessee by Dolly in 1995 in honor of her father. Now over thirty years later, it has expanded to five total countries including all over the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland. It is a program she created to ship age appropriate books for children to learn how to read up until they are five years old. To date, Dolly’s program has shipped over 270 million books for free to children all across these five countries.

I can’t think of a more touching and heartfelt tribute to her father than what Dolly did. She planted a seed and was able to watch it grow into something beautiful and life changing. She provided literacy for children. That gift will keep on giving even though Dolly is now sadly gone—her legacy will live on well past her death.

That’s what legacies are all about. We are all here for a reason and only have so much time to make a difference in this world. Dolly left behind a beautiful legacy that will continue to help generations to come. She was truly an inspiration to us all and used her many talents she was given to leave behind a lasting legacy.

We will never forget you Dolly. Thank you for the wonderful things you did for the world in the time you had here. Your legacy will live on forever.