Before Dolly Parton became a country music legend, she was one of twelve children growing up in a small Tennessee cabin. Her parents, Robert “Lee” Parton and Avie Lee Owens, raised their family through poverty, heartbreak, faith, and a love of music that would eventually shape one of the most remarkable careers in country music.
Lee was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, on March 22, 1921, while Avie Lee was born in South Carolina on October 5, 1923. The couple married in 1939, when they were just 17 and 15 years old. Their first daughter, Willadeene, arrived in 1940, and Dolly was born as their fourth child on January 19, 1946. Together, they welcomed twelve children, six boys and six girls.
Life was far from easy. The family lived in a rustic cabin, and Lee worked as a sharecropper while taking on additional jobs to support his children. When Dolly was born, he reportedly paid the doctor with a sack of cornmeal. Yet Avie Lee refused to let poverty define their family. She reminded Dolly that they might not have many possessions, but there were always people worse off and plenty to be grateful for.
The family also endured a heartbreaking loss when Larry, their ninth child, died just four days after his birth in 1955. Dolly later brought that painful chapter to television through Coat of Many Colors, a story that also celebrated the love behind the famous coat her mother made for her.
Avie Lee’s influence reached far beyond motherhood. Music filled the Parton household through church singing, gospel, folk, and bluegrass. Her brother, Bill Owens, helped Dolly learn guitar, find early performance opportunities, and make her Grand Ole Opry debut at just 13. Dolly later said she would not have become who she was without him.
Her father left a different kind of legacy. Lee could not read or write, and Dolly never forgot how that limitation affected his life. In 1995, she created the Imagination Library to provide books to children in her home county. What began locally eventually grew into a worldwide literacy program, distributing more than 330 million free books across several countries.
For Dolly, the program was more than charity. It was a tribute to the father she considered the smartest man she had ever known. Lee died in 2000, followed by Avie Lee in 2003.
Dolly Parton’s parents may not have had wealth, but they gave their daughter something that money could never buy: a family full of love, music, faith, and stories that would live on through generations.
Country fans, what touches you most about Dolly’s story? Her mother’s love, her father’s legacy, or the music that brought their family together?