08/26/2026
Dolly, beautiful Dolly, has passed away. When I was growing up in Europe, I thought she was just a little country singer with a pink, glittery image, until I learned so much more about her here in America.
Dolly was a Southern girl, and I have always loved the South, ever since I was a little girl dreaming of one day seeing that special South I had imagined while reading Gone with the Wind.
After hearing Dolly’s song “Coat of Many Colors” for the first time, I cried like a baby. I gathered my children around me and shared the story behind the song with them. Dolly herself was the complete author of that song—she wrote it, composed it, and lived its story.
Maybe it is just a coincidence, but I have gone through many situations in my own life in almost the same way Dolly’s mother did. She was a mother of many children, just like me.
Dolly lost her brother when she was a little girl. For days, she was angry with God, asking how He could take her brother away when she had trusted Him so deeply.
A film about Dolly, based on the truth of her life, also helped me understand her not only as an artist, but as a great spirit—a fighter, a visionary, and a woman faithful to traditional values.
Dolly is a symbol of a healthy, beautiful America—the America of farmers, nature, simplicity, and beauty that so many of us dreamed about.
She did not carry that title undeservedly. She went through tremendous pain, struggle, and sacrifice, but guided by her enormous heart and creative energy, she truly managed, for more than 80 years, to color this world pink.
Not falsely. Not by pretending. But through genuine emotion and love for the whole world—not only for the music she loved so dearly.
Dolly has sponsored many libraries through which school-age children receive free books as gifts. Across the media, Americans are expressing their reaction to the news of Dolly’s death with the words: “God, thank You for Dolly.”
I join them in that feeling, because the world has lost a great and complete artist—someone of inexhaustible energy, kindness, and vision.
Travel to the Kingdom of Heaven, dear Dolly, into the arms of your beloved mother, whom you loved so deeply and honored in your songs. Travel into the arms of your husband, to whom you remained faithful for decades, from the very beginning of your journey, and who was your greatest support. It could not have been easy to stand beside a woman like Dolly, who moved the stars across the sky wherever she went.
Your songs remain with us. So do the memories of your Southern heart, your angelic voice, your kindness, and your great works—all of them gifts you left to the world.
Memory eternal, Dolly. ♡♡♡
