08/25/2026
This is my Pappaw. He hates music. Anytime we’d turn on the radio in the car growing up, he’d say the songs felt “like a hot wire in his brain.”
But not Dolly’s music. He knows every word to every song she ever wrote. He used to tell us that she was his girlfriend when us kids were too young to know better. He ran the labor union in my hometown decades ago, and 9 to 5 played like an anthem at his house.
The biggest smile I’ve seen him give in the last 15 years was when he got to see her perform live. That’s the effect she had on everyone. She loved so fiercely, cared so kindly, you couldn’t help but love her right back. Everything she did reflected that.
May we all be more . 💖
