The Romantic Letter Dolly Parton Wrote About Her Husband After 9 Years of Marriage
In 1967, Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, celebrated one year of marriage by visiting the man who married them, Dr. L. Don Duvall. They had a friendly relationship with him, and he continued to think fondly of the young couple over the years. Several years after their wedding, Dr. Duvall reached out to Parton. She responded with a sweet letter detailing how much she loved Dean.
Dolly Parton once wrote a sweet letter about her husband
In 1966, Parton and Dean drove to Georgia with Parton’s mother to elope. Dr. Duvall was sometimes wary of elopements, though he recalled immediately liking the young couple.
“She was just a pretty girl, a young, friendly, outgoing mountain girl,” he told Alanna Nash in the book Dolly. “I remember I really liked her as a person. I liked him, too. He seemed to be a nice young man.”
One year later, Parton and Dean returned to Georgia and visited Dr. Duvall as a way of commemorating their first anniversary. He continued to think of the couple, and decided to reach out to Parton in the mid-1970s. Parton responded, confirming they were still together and had celebrated their ninth anniversary.
“She said, ‘I love him more now than I did then,’” Dr. Duvall recalled. “‘He’s my best friend, too.’”
Dolly Parton and her husband decided to secretly elope
The reason Parton and Dean drove to Georgia and met Dr. Duvall was because they were trying to keep their nuptials quiet. She had recently signed with a new record label, and they wanted her to focus on her music for at least a year.
“He was investing quite a bit of money in me to try and get me started in the business,” Parton said, per The Boot. “He heard that I was engaged, and we had already sent out our wedding invitations, and so he called me in the office and said, ‘I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t get married for at least a year, so I can kind of make sure I can get a return on my investment, because I want you to be free to work and do whatever you need to do.'”
They decided to elope in Georgia so that the Tennessee newspapers wouldn’t report on it.
“[We] got married [there] so it wouldn’t be in the Tennessee papers,” Parton said. “We went down there, and Mom went with us, and Mom made me a white dress. I said, ‘I’m not getting married in a courthouse,’ so we had to go back the following Monday … We actually got married in Ringgold, Ga., at a Baptist church. Inside. No people there, just the preacher and his wife, the witness and Mama and Carl and I.”
Their relationship has remained lowkey for decades
Parton and Dean’s wedding was no-frills, and their relationship has remained quiet and laid back over the years. Parton said she’s able to relax when she’s at home with Dean.
“We like to get out in our little RV and just be simple,” she said on her official website. “I love to read, I love to cook, I love to be with my husband. I put on my little comfy clothes – I call them my baby clothes – and we just relax.”
