In 1995, Dolly Parton started sending free books to children in her native Sevier County, Tenn., with a dream of inspiring them to love reading. More than 30 years later, the final message she sent to children who graduated from her Imagination Library is taking on heartbreaking new meaning.
Parton died in Nashville on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the age of 80, following a period of unspecified health issues that had forced her to curtail public appearances and ultimately cancel a planned Las Vegas residency.
In the hours following the news, one parent’s post about the final book her daughter received from Parton’s Imagination Library began going viral.
“This note in the final book from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library wrecked me last year when my daughter turned 5,” she wrote on X. “Tearing up again reading it now.”
As of this writing, the post has received more than 40,000 likes and over 500,000 views.
The reason is easy to understand once you read Parton’s message.
Dolly Parton’s Final Message to Imagination Library Children
Children enrolled in the Imagination Library receive a free, age-appropriate book every month from birth until they turn 5. When that journey comes to an end, their final book includes a goodbye from the woman generations of young readers came to know simply as “The Book Lady.”
Parton’s complete message reads:
Dear Imagination Library Graduate,
Wow, how time flies! It seems like only yesterday when your family signed you up for my Imagination Library. You were just a little baby, and now you’re 5 years old and about to go to school. How exciting!
This may be your last book from my Imagination Library, but you have to promise me you will keep on reading. If you go to your local public library, you will find a great number of books just for kids your age. Every book is a treasure, and every time you open one up, you will meet new friends and take wonderful journeys to magical places.
I hope you have a great time in school. I bet your school will even have a library where you can check out books.
You and all your friends are very special. There is no limit to what you can do or how far you can go. Just remember the lessons my family taught me: Dream big dreams, learn everything you can and care for those who care for you. You do all of these things and you can be anyone you want to be.
You are terrific!
Remember, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!
DollyThe Book Lady
Parton’s choice of those final words, of course, carries even more weight. “I Will Always Love You” was one of her signature compositions, a song she wrote as a farewell to Porter Wagoner when she decided to leave his organization and strike out on her own. Parton’s original recording reached No. 1 on the country chart in 1974, and she took it to No. 1 again with a new recording in 1982.
Now those same words are serving as a farewell of a very different kind.
Dolly Parton Had One More Goodbye for Her ‘Graduates’
The letter wasn’t Parton’s only message for children aging out of the program.
Imagination Library graduates are also directed to an unlisted YouTube video featuring Parton herself congratulating them on turning 5. The video has quietly accumulated roughly 300,000 views, and following her death, its comments have become a place for parents to mourn the woman who had been sending books to their children for years.
One parent’s comment is particularly poignant because her daughter received Parton’s goodbye on the day Parton died.
“We literally got this today on my daughter’s 5th birthday,” she wrote. “Same day you have gone on and left this world. Thank you Dolly for everything you’ve done, for being an inspiration, and for striving to give kids more opportunities than what you had when you were that age. May we all go on to live up to your example.”
Three parents replied that their sons were also celebrating their fifth birthdays on Aug. 25.
“It’s my son’s birthday too and she just left us like this,” one wrote.
Another added, “Today is my son’s 5th birthday too! Dolly will definitely be missed and the world needs more people like her.”
Why Dolly Parton Started the Imagination Library
The program was deeply personal for Parton.
She launched the Imagination Library in 1995 in Sevier County, where she was born and raised. Parton created it in honor of her father, Robert Lee Parton, who could not read or write. What began as a local effort eventually expanded far beyond Tennessee, providing free books to children regardless of their family’s income.
That mission became one of the defining achievements of Parton’s life outside music. Her philanthropy through the Imagination Library ultimately provided books to millions of children, while Parton’s charitable work also included a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center that helped fund life-saving research.
But perhaps nothing explains what Parton wanted the Imagination Library to accomplish quite as well as the message she recorded for the children leaving it behind.
In the graduation video, Parton tells them that although their final Imagination Library book has arrived, their reading journey is only beginning.
“Every book is a treasure,” she says, encouraging them to visit their public and school libraries. “Every time you open one up, you’ll meet new friends and take wonderful journeys to magical places.”
Then comes her final lesson.
“Dream big dreams and learn everything you can, and care for those who care for you,” Parton tells them. “You do all of these things and you can be anyone you want to be.”
And finally, the goodbye that thousands of families are hearing differently today:
“You are terrific. And remember that I will always love you. It’s the Book Lady signing off.”
Related: Linda Ronstadt Mourns ‘The Most Extraordinary’ Dolly Parton
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