Former country music star Dolly Parton spent decades mastering the art of the grand entrance.
Away from the glittering stages and rhinestones, however, the music icon was also said to have carefully considered how she wanted her final farewell handled.
When news of her death spread on social media, her nephew Bryan Seaver was entrusted with delivering the family’s message through Parton’s official Instagram account.
According to Seaver, the announcement was a responsibility Parton had discussed with him years earlier.
“This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver said.
Seaver served as Parton’s head of security for more than two decades, following his father, Larry, in the role. He described the emotional weight of fulfilling her request, saying he had spent years imagining what such a moment would feel like but only understood its significance when the time came.
His role in delivering the message was particularly significant given his long relationship with Parton. He was not simply a member of her professional team, but someone trusted with her safety and familiar with the woman behind the global superstar.
The family’s message also revealed a softer, more personal side of Parton’s wishes.
Seaver recalled Parton telling him that she wanted to rest comfortably after spending much of her career dressed in elaborate costumes and heavy rhinestones.
The sentiment was unmistakably Dolly. Even while contemplating her final rest, she appeared to retain the warmth and humour that had become central to her public persona.
The family’s subsequent statement offered further insight into how Parton wanted her farewell handled.
Rather than a lavish public ceremony befitting a superstar of her stature, she requested a small, private service for her immediate family.
Her fans, however, were not left out.
The family encouraged admirers around the world to pay tribute to the singer on social media and, instead of sending flowers, support Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the literacy programme that became one of her most enduring philanthropic legacies.
That request was fitting.
Parton launched Imagination Library in 1995 in honour of her father, Robert Lee Parton, who could not read or write. What began as a programme providing books to children in her home community grew into an international initiative that has distributed hundreds of millions of books to children at no cost.
It is perhaps one of the clearest reflections of Parton’s life beyond music.
For more than six decades, she occupied an extraordinary place in popular culture, selling more than 100 million records and writing thousands of songs.
Her catalogue includes enduring hits such as Jolene, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You.
She also transformed herself into a successful businesswoman, building Dollywood into another major part of her legacy.
But behind the music, business and unmistakable rhinestones was a woman who repeatedly used her success to give back.
That makes the reported funeral arrangements particularly poignant.
Her final wishes did not centre on spectacle, despite a career built around it.
Instead, they pointed back to the things she valued most: family, faith, comfort and children having access to books.
For a performer who spent a lifetime commanding enormous stages, Parton’s final chapter was imagined on a much smaller scale.
No grand entrance.
Just family, remembrance and a legacy designed to keep giving long after the curtain falls.