'Lit up such a dark time': Family remembers Dolly Parton’s lasting gift to dying fan
To many around the world, Dolly Parton is remembered as a country music icon and philanthropist. But one family in Orem, Utah, remembers her as someone who gave them a memory they will forever cherish.
Three years ago, LeGrande "L.G." Gold got a phone call from a Tennessee area code.
"It was pretty early in the morning, and they get a call and it was a Tennessee number, so they answered it, thinking it was going to be a producer, but it was her,” Bella Gold, LeGrande’s daughter, said.
It was Dolly Parton, checking in on a fan who only had a few months left to live after a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Meeting Dolly was a bucket list item.
"My dad is from East Tennessee and he grew up in the same city that she's from," Bella said. "We lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, in my early childhood, and it's impossible to live in Tennessee and not know who Dolly Parton is."
LeGrande was Dolly Parton's biggest fan for years. In those last months of chemo, Dolly Parton's music was LeGrande's biggest comfort.
"My dad loved all music, but especially Dolly Parton was one of his all-time favorites,” Bella said.
But LeGrande's cancer continued to progress.
"My dad was so sick for so long and kind of not himself, but there was such a joy that happened when she called him, and I feel like he seemed genuinely like my dad in that moment,” Bella said. "It's just a really, really happy core memory for my whole family at a time that was really hard, but it just like completely lit up such a dark time in our family.”
Now, they remember the person who was a beacon of brightness for the Golds and so many others.
"Her music connects me so deeply to my dad, and that is something we'll never lose,” Bella said.
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