Dolly Parton’s Late Husband Carl Dean Was Last Photographed in Outing 5 Years Before His Death

Dolly Parton and her husband Carl Dean had a love story for the ages. Married for nearly 60 years, as Parton cemented her status as a country music icon with hit songs like “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” Dean mostly kept out of the spotlight and was last photographed in a rare public outing in 2019, five years before his death Monday at the age of 82.

Originally published by the Daily Mail, the pictures were snapped in December 2019 as Dean ran errands during an outing near their home in Brentwood, Tennessee, a Nashville suburb. Dean, then 77, was photographed visiting the post office with an assistant, and was seen wearing a button-up shirt, jacket, and jeans. The outing marked the first time he had been photographed in public in four decades. See the photos here.

Parton, 79, shared the tragic news Monday that Dean passed away at the age of 82. His cause of death was not disclosed.

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“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,” the message, shared to the singer’s Instagram account, read. “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. The family asks for privacy during this difficult time.”

Dean and Parton had been married for nearly six decades. The couple first met outside a Nashville laundromat in 1964 when Parton was just 18. Dean later recalled that his first thought when he saw Parton, who had recently relocated to Music City from her hometown of Sevierville, was, “My first thought was I’m gonna marry that girl. My second thought was, Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”

The pair went on to tie the knot in Ringgold, Georgia in 1966, with just Parton’s mother and the pastor’s wife attending.

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Throughout his wife’s decades-long career, Dean supported her from the background, choosing to remain out of the spotlight. Parton described her husband as “sort of shy and quiet,” and told PEOPLE in a 1977 cover story, “What we have together is so sweet and good that I’d never want it to get jumbled up with the other.”

Opening up about her husband’s privacy decades later, she told Entertainment Tonight in 2020, “a lot of people have thought that [he doesn’t exist] through the years, because he does not want to be in the spotlight at all. It’s just not who he is. He’s, like, a quiet, reserved person.”

She added, “He said, ‘I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.’ And we do, and we have always respected and appreciated.”