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Private burial in Nashville
Dolly Parton was laid to rest in a private ceremony at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tennessee, with her great-niece Lainey Parton confirming the service and sharing a remembrance on social media.
“The singer was interred on Friday at Woodlawn Memorial Park”
Parton died on 25 August at age 80 after a “brief battle with cancer,” and her representatives said she requested a “small, private service” for immediate family.
Lainey Parton wrote, “This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words,” describing the timing of her tribute.
The burial placed Parton alongside her husband Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 and was interred in a mausoleum at the same cemetery, where a bronze crypt plate mounted at the mausoleum had her name engraved before she died.
The Independent reported that Parton’s family confirmed she was laid to rest the day after Lainey’s tribute, while Arise News said Parton was interred on Friday at Woodlawn Memorial Park following the small service held in accordance with her wishes.
Tributes and family words
In her Instagram remembrance, Lainey Parton said, “Because she couldn’t have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers. She loved us that way, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
NBC News quoted Lainey describing how Parton “believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself,” and said Lainey recalled Parton’s support as she pursued beauty school.
The Spokesman-Review reported that the cemetery set out velvet ropes and guest books so fans could visit Parton and pay their respects, and it quoted the cemetery’s obituary encouraging fans to tag @dollyparton on social media.
Rolling Stone said People reported that only immediate family attended the private funeral “at Dolly’s request, a small, private service,” and it noted the mausoleum where Carl Dean was interred in March 2025.
In a statement carried by Entertainment Weekly, Parton’s representative said, “After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” while the type of cancer was not specified.
What she wanted played
Beyond the private service, multiple outlets revisited Parton’s earlier comments about the music she wanted at her funeral, including her 2014 interview in which she said, “There’s a song called ‘If We Never Meet Again.’”
“I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die”
E! News reported that Parton told Entertainment Weekly in 2014 that the hymn “talks about if we never meet again this side of heaven, I will meet you on that beautiful shore,” and she said, “That was my daddy’s favorite.”
Bored Panda said Parton had chosen the piece more than a decade before her demise, quoting her 2014 interview: “That was my daddy’s favorite. We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine.”
E! News also noted that Parton acknowledged another familiar choice, saying, “I’m sure they’ll be playing ‘I Will Always Love You’ when I die,” and it tied that expectation to her experience watching Whitney Houston’s funeral in 2012.
Whiskey Riff added that Parton’s nephew Brian Seaver said she wanted to rest “in a beautiful bed of plush cotton,” and it described the plan that she would be buried “in her signature high heels and a comfortable cotton dress” in the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum.