The United States President Donald Trump ordered American flags across the country to be lowered for one week in honor of country music icon Dolly Parton, who died at the age of 80.
Parton’s demise was reportedly announced by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, on Instagram on Tuesday.
“I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now.
“It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness,” Seaver said.
Her passing, according to Trump, was a “true loss for millions of people.”
Over the course of her more than 60-year career, Parton—who came from modest origins in Tennessee—became one of the most renowned singer-songwriters in country music.
With successes like “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You,” she became regarded as the “Queen of Country” and sold over 100 million records worldwide.
Parton earned eleven Grammy Awards and penned over 3,000 songs.
She was also a popular actress, having starred in movies including Joyful Noise, Steel Magnolias, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and 9 to 5. Parton was the fourth of twelve children born on January 19, 1946, in a two-room log cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Tennessee.
Her father started off as an uneducated sharecropper and eventually became the owner of a small tobacco farm.
Parton called her family “dirt poor,” but she gave thanks to her father for his work ethic and her mother for passing on her passion and mastery of traditional folk melodies.
