The news came in the early hours of the morning, and even for someone who has spent decades covering the biggest names in entertainment, Richard “Dickie” Wilkins was not prepared for the reaction.

The Today Entertainment Editor was speaking with a group of international journalists at around 4am when news broke that Dolly Parton had passed away at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer.

Parton’s family confirmed her passing on August 25, 2026, saying she had died peacefully in Nashville. She had been surrounded by loved ones during her final moments.

For Wilkins, the immediate response among those in the room reflected just how deeply Parton had touched generations of people.

“Everybody was just shocked.”

He recalled people abruptly leaving the interview as the reality of the news sank in.

“She was so loved”

Speaking about the country music icon, Wilkins said the enormous outpouring of grief was hardly surprising.

Parton was far more than a singer. Across a career spanning more than six decades, she became a songwriter, actress, businesswoman and one of the world’s best-known philanthropists.

“She was a great artist,” Wilkins reflected. “She was a singer. She was a prolific songwriter and actress. She was a philanthropist.”

For him, that combination was part of what made Parton so special.

“She just ticked a lot of boxes,” he said, describing her as something close to a mother figure to the country music world.

Parton wrote more than 3,000 songs and sold more than 100 million records worldwide, but her influence extended well beyond the stage.

The legacy Dickie believes matters most

Among all of Parton’s achievements, Wilkins chose to highlight one that had nothing to do with chart positions or awards.

He pointed to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the literacy program she founded in 1995.

The initiative sends free books to young children, with the programme now having distributed more than 300 million books around the world.

For Wilkins, the motivation behind it made the achievement even more meaningful.

Parton’s father, Robert Lee Parton, was unable to read, and she created the programme in his honour.

“She said, ‘Whether you become a minister or an inventor or whatever, you need to learn to read,’” Wilkins recalled.

It was a philosophy that became one of the defining parts of Parton’s life away from music.

From a difficult childhood to a global legacy

Parton never forgot where she came from.

Born into a large family in rural Tennessee and raised in poverty, she began singing as a child before building one of the most extraordinary careers in popular music.

Her songs — including Jolene, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You — became cultural landmarks, while her distinctive personality and generosity helped make her beloved far beyond the country music audience.

Her philanthropic work became equally significant. Reuters reported that the Imagination Library alone had distributed more than 304 million books, while Parton also supported medical research, disaster relief, hospitals and other charitable causes.

A final chapter surrounded by the people she loved

Parton’s family said she died peacefully in Nashville after her brief illness.

Her nephew Bryan Seaver, who had worked as her head of security for decades, announced the news in an emotional video — a message Parton herself had asked him to deliver years earlier.

Her family has requested a small, private farewell, in keeping with her wishes, rather than a large public funeral. Fans have instead been encouraged to honour her memory by supporting the Imagination Library.

The music will remain — but so will something much bigger

The world may remember Dolly Parton first for the songs, the voice, the rhinestones and the unmistakable humour.

But as Dickie Wilkins’ reflection suggests, perhaps her most enduring work was what happened when the music stopped.

She used the success she built to give children something she knew the value of from her own family history: the chance to read, to learn and to imagine a different future.

And that legacy is continuing.

As the world mourns Dolly Parton, the organisation she created says it remains committed to carrying her vision forward for generations to come.

The songs may be her most recognisable legacy. But for millions of children, the gift of a book may be the part of Dolly Parton that lives on longest.