Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music icon Dolly Parton, died on Monday at the age of 82.
Dean, who was famously private throughout his nearly 60-year marriage to Parton, died in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton said in a statement posted on social media.
Parton met Dean outside a laundromat on the first day she arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer.
The 79-year-old singer recalled their first meeting, saying: “I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Two years later, on May 30, 1966, the couple exchanged vows at a private ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.
Parton and Dean had no children together.
He is survived by his siblings, Sandra and Donnie, the statement added.