Dolly Parton had a humble beginning living with her poor parents in Tennessee. Being the fourth of twelve children, Dolly has always been grateful to her parents and often credits them for her success.
Growing up in a Christian home shaped the talented woman so finely. Her grandfather, Jake Owens was a Pentecostal preacher which warranted the nature of the environment she grew up in.
Dolly Parton’s Father Robert Lee Parton.
Robert Lee Parton, Dolly’s father was born in 1921. Lee grew up as a farmer and hustled as a sharecropper during his early adulthood. This was not a very good means of making money as the workers on an employer’s farm were given a share of the farm produce as rent.
Luckily in 1951, Lee managed to purchase a piece of land in Sevier County in Tennessee which he used as a tobacco farm and raised livestock. Due to his large family size, he had to work as a construction worker to cater to his family’s needs. Despite his illiteracy, Dolly often commented about how smart her father was in the world of business.
To honor Dolly, her hometown Sevier county put up a bronze statue to remember the cowgirl from their town who developed into everything she had wanted and her father would proudly clean the statue from time to time.
Robert passed away at the baptist hospital in Knoxville at age 79.
Dolly Parton’s Mother Avie Lee Owens
Born of Welsh descent, Dolly’s mother, Avie was born in 1923 in Sevierville. She managed to put her house in order at all times and entertain her kids with songs, ballads, and mountain folklore although she often suffered from poor health. She had given birth to twelve children before she got to age 35. She often encouraged Dolly and advised her to be herself and listen to God’s point of view in her life.
Her song’ coat of many colors’ was attributed to her childhood memories of how her mother will sew a coat of different pieces of cloth which made her uneasy as her friends mocked her. Her mother told her to compare her coat to that of the biblical Joseph as his father made him a coat of many colors, hence, to not she was special.
Avie passed away in 2003 at 80 years old.
