Across the Church
Diocese of New York church’s service honors life, legacy of Dolly Parton
By Shireen Korkzan
[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Tommy Dillon has been a Dolly Parton fan most of his life. He not only loves the country singer’s music and movies, but he’s also been to Dollywood, her amusement park in Tennessee, more than once. Most of all, he admired Parton’s dedication to social justice and philanthropy, especially through her nonprofit, the Dollywood Foundation.
“Dolly really lived out the example of what the kingdom of God looks like on Earth,” Dillon told Episcopal News Service. “She welcomed everybody.”
Dillon had just settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, to serve as interim rector of Christ Episcopal Church a week and a half before Parton died on Aug. 25 at 80 following a brief battle with an unspecified cancer. Like so many people worldwide, Dillon grieved upon hearing the news of her death.
“She meant so much to so many people. … It hurts,” Dillon said.
After some reflection, Dillon, with enthusiastic approval from his new congregation, decided to hold a community service of thanksgiving for Parton’s life and service to others on Aug. 30. The liturgy included readings from Genesis 37:1-4 and Matthew 5:13-16 and Parton’s songs “Coat of Many Colors,” “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” and “I Will Always Love You.”
“Coat of Many Colors” is Parton’s 1971 autobiographical song about growing up poor, but loved, in rural Tennessee. In the song, Parton describes her mother telling her the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, told in Genesis 37.
“Singing ‘Coat of Many Colors’ after that reading from Genesis made perfect sense,” Dillon said.
An offering during the service collected $2,000: $1,000 in donations and a $1,000 match from New York Bishop Matt Heyd, who greeted the congregation at the start of the service. The money was donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library through the Poughkeepsie Public Library District. The Imagination Library, part of the Dollywood Foundation, has donated more than 330 million free books to children worldwide since its founding in 1995.
Service attendees were also encouraged to donate a children’s book for Governor Clinton Elementary School, which is located across the street from Christ Episcopal Church.
During Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, New York’s Aug. 30 service of thanksgiving for Dolly Parton’s life and service to others, attendees donated books that were later given to children at Governor Clinton Elementary School, which is located across the street from the church. Photo: Courtesy of Tommy Dillon
Promoting children’s literacy is one of many initiatives Parton, dubbed the “Queen of Country,” supported in her lifetime. Born on Jan. 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, Parton is believed to have donated between $500 million and $600 million over the course of her life, according to financial analysts. Part of that money also supported education programs and health care and medical research programs like the American Red Cross, HIV/AIDS-related charities and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Parton also financially supported disaster relief, animal welfare and conservation programs.
Parton is additionally recognized as an LGBTQ+ icon for her long history of openly supporting LGBTQ+ communities.
One of Parton’s most famous songs, “I Will Always Love You” from 1973, reached global mainstream success in 1992 when Whitney Houston’s critically acclaimed cover was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to “The Bodyguard,” Houston’s film acting debut. Parton invested most of the roughly $10 million in royalties from Houston’s cover in supporting the Black community in Nashville.
“Dolly brought joy to everybody’s life she touched,” Dillon said. “She represented kindness, humor, faith, generosity and welcome.”
Parton, the granddaughter of a Pentecostal preacher, credited much of her values to her deep Christian faith and spirituality. When her husband of more than 60 years, Carl Dean, died in 2025, she told The Associated Press in an interview that her faith comforted her.
“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday,” she said.
Two of Parton’s 10 competitive Grammy Awards were won in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song category. She received The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Other Episcopalians and institutions churchwide honored Parton and shared how much she meant to them. On Aug. 26, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, also hosted a special evening worship service in Parton’s honor. The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, honored Parton on Aug. 27 by playing an excerpt from her song “9 to 5” on its carillon.
“I loved that she defied expectations of how women should be and how women should act and how women should look,” Colorado Bishop Kym Lucas said in an Aug. 26 video message. “I was a fan of hers because she supported Black country music star Charley Pride, even when it cost her concert dates and recording contracts. I admired her into my adulthood as she gave of her resources to help children learn to read, to provide scholarships for underprivileged youth, to make her life and witness a testament that we do best when we help one another.”
Texas Bishop C. Andrew Doyle said in an Aug. 26 Facebook post that Parton finished her “course in faith.”
“She sang the Gospel plainly, put books into the hands of millions of children who will never see her face, and kept a table where everyone was welcome,” Doyle said.
In Poughkeepsie, after the service, attendees gathered across the street from Christ Church at Goodnight Kenny, a bar, to continue celebrating Parton’s life through her music and a special cocktail adapted from one of her cookbooks.
“Celebrating Dolly’s life is a chance for us to come together and show what the world should look like – the Kingdom of God – around grieving together, because Dolly meant something to a lot of people,” Dillon said.
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.