Dolly Parton’s Final Wishes: What We Know About Her Funeral and Burial

Dolly Parton spent more than six decades doing things her own way — and, as it turns out, she had some very specific ideas about how she wanted to say goodbye.

The country music legend died on Aug. 25 at age 80 after a private battle with cancer. But long before her death, Dolly had thought about how she wanted to be remembered — from the songs played at her funeral to what she wanted to wear (which, naturally, includes her signature high heels).

And despite spending most of her life in the spotlight, her farewell will be a decidedly private one. Her family plans to honor her wishes with a small memorial for immediate family before she is laid to rest beside her late husband, Carl Dean, in Nashville.

Here’s what we know about the country music icon’s final wishes, plus the secret song fans won’t hear for another 19 years.

Dolly’s funeral will be a private affair 

Dolly’s death has prompted an outpouring of condolences, with President Trump ordering U.S. flags flown at half-staff for one week in her honor.

But no public funeral or memorial has been announced — and that was Dolly’s decision. Instead, a small, private service will be held for immediate family “at Dolly’s request,” according to her representative.

Dolly had also thought about the music she wanted played when the time came. In 2014, the country music legend told Entertainment Weekly that she expected Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You” to be part of her funeral. Dolly famously wrote the song decades before Houston turned it into a global hit, and hearing Houston’s version at the singer’s 2012 funeral brought her to tears.

"When they picked her coffin up and started in on that song, I started to cry, and I thought, Oh my Lord. That’s when it hit me that she was really gone," Parton said of Houston at the time.

There was another song Parton wanted included for a much more personal reason: the old gospel hymn “If We Never Meet Again,” which was her father’s favorite. “We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine," she told the publication. Parton’s father, Robert Lee Parton, died in November 2000.

And speaking of music, fans haven’t heard the last of Dolly’s own work. She also recorded a never-before-heard song titled “My Place in History,” which remains locked in a time capsule at her Dollywood resort. It's scheduled to be opened in 2045 — just months before what would have been her 100th birthday in January 2046.

For someone known for her big hair and over-the-top style, Dolly’s final outfit will be surprisingly understated. The Grammy winner is expected to be buried in a cotton dress, though she’ll still be wearing her signature high heels.

“Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because, after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest,” her nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, revealed when announcing her death.

Where will Dolly be buried?

She will be laid to rest at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville beside her husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, who died in 2025. 

The cemetery is also the final resting place of Dean’s parents and several country music legends with ties to Parton, including her longtime collaborator Porter Wagoner and friend Tammy Wynette.

So how can fans honor Dolly’s memory?

In lieu of flowers, her family has asked for donations to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the children’s book-gifting program she founded in honor of her father. The program, launched in 1995, mails free books to children from birth to age 5 — a mission inspired in part by her father, who never learned to read or write.

And, of course, there’s perhaps no more fitting way to remember Dolly than by putting on one of the many songs she left behind.