“Ten seconds.” Fred Rogers, the host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, said this while accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 1997. He was encouraging the audience to take 10 seconds to think of people they were grateful for - people who had changed their lives, encouraged them, and inspired them. “Ten seconds of silence,” Rogers repeated. “I’ll watch the time.”
There is no doubt that if Rogers were posing the question today, people around the world would include the one and only Dolly Parton, along with the names of those for whom they are grateful.
Dolly’s life and work were infused with joy and gratitude. In a tribute given by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, he said, "Dolly was a farmer just like her daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness.” As we mourn her death, let’s pause to give her thanks for the many ways she enriched our lives:
You never forgot your roots. Growing up in poverty in the hills of Tennessee, you never thought of yourself as poor, maintaining that you had riches money couldn’t buy.
You used your resources, success and influence to care for others and improve their lives.
You taught us to dream. One of the last things you wrote was “Dream big dreams; learn everything you can learn; and care for all those who care for you. You do all of these things and you can be anyone you want to be. You are terrific.” You encouraged us to work and make our dreams come true, dubbing yourself “the little engine that did.”
For all of your money and power, you remained humble and wonderfully self-deprecating: “I am a self-made woman, and I have the doctor bills to prove it.” Again, “I’m not offended by all of the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb. And I’m not blonde either.”
You taught us how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life: “I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life. I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain" and "I hold the little treasures that somebody special gave me.”
Aging was an adventure for you. “I just don’t have time to get old.”
You reminded us that caregivers need to take care of themselves to help care for their loved ones.
You taught us to be strong and to speak out against darkness and evil without rancor and bitterness: “I know how to stand my ground. I know how to speak up. I know how to stand sturdy. But that doesn't mean I've hardened my heart.”
You made work fun and reminded us to keep our careers in perspective: “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
In a divisive world, you crossed political divides, finding common ground to work together to make the world a better place.
You showed us what it means to follow Jesus. “I don’t practice my faith, I live it.” You claimed that judging was “God’s job,” and practiced love and acceptance instead. You attributed your ability to remain sane, humble and stable through decades of intense global fame to your faith in God and your loving family.
You inspired millions of children to dream and helped make those dreams come true within the pages of a book. Your shared reading preschool literacy program, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL), has gifted over 300 million books, free to children from birth to age 5, all over the world.
Dolly’s Imagination Library capitalizes on the optimum window for language development, from birth to age 3. It encourages a love of reading and fosters reading skills, virtually ensuring children will be reading by the time they reach kindergarten and will never fall behind. The cost of gifting a child with free books for a year is $36, paid for by the Dollywood Foundation and local affiliates. The families pay nothing. According to Dolly, "My Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done."
Dolly considered her Imagination Library as important to her legacy as her singing and songwriting and asked that all donations to her memorial be given to DPIL. We are fortunate to have a little piece of Dolly in Oceana County, an affiliate of the Imagination Library, directed by Barbara Saunders Sims.
For more information and to register your child, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com, and click on Oceana County. You can also visit www.unitedwaylakeshore.org/dpi... to register or donate to Dolly’s cause. Designate your gift for Oceana County DPIL
Just 10 seconds.
Thank you, Dolly. You wore rhinestones, yet you asked to be laid to rest on a beautiful bed of plush cotton. Rest in peace, Dolly. We will always love you.
