Parton pays tribute to her husband after death at 82

‘Words can’t do justice to love we shared, says music legend

- ROISIN O'CONNOR

Dolly Parton has paid tribute to her husband, Carl Dean, following his death aged 82.

The country music legend met Dean, a businessman who owned a Nashville asphalt company, when she was 18, on the day she moved to the Tennessee capital. They were married two years later on 30 May 1966.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton wrote of their encounter outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

In a statement, Parton, 79, said Dean died on Monday. A cause of death was not disclosed.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” she said.