The board in charge of the bustling Nashville International Airport has unanimously voted to approve naming it after the late “Queen of Country,” Dolly Parton.
Parton, a humble country music icon who is remembered for her charitable ways just as much as for her singing career, will be immortalized at the airport in her home state after a push from fans and state officials.
After the singer died at the age of 80 late last month following a brief battle with cancer, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Nashville International Airport announced their intent to name the airport in honor of Parton.
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Lee said in a statement on August 28. “From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her.
“At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”
open image in galleryThe Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority voted 6-0 Friday to begin the process of naming the airport after Parton.
The board has yet to decide on a name, but said in a statement that they are “working closely with the appropriate parties to thoughtfully determine how Dolly Parton’s name and legacy will be incorporated.”
Last year, a Nashville fan named Lydia Popovich started a petition to name the airport after the singer. The petition gained traction after Parton’s death, reaching more than 175,000 signatures, according to the Associated Press.
“It’s been a really beautiful experience, especially as you’re grieving someone that was such a great loss,” she told the AP in a Friday article. “She’s the best of Tennessee. She’s the best of the humans on the planet. She was this magical person that provided light and guidance to all of us.”
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open image in galleryParton — known for hits like “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You” — grew up in a small cabin in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains with her parents and her 11 siblings.
She had an estimated net worth of more than $450 million at the time of her death after giving away millions more.
Two of Parton’s biggest philanthropic efforts were the Dollywood Foundation and the nonprofit’s Imagination Library program.
In 1988, Parton founded the Dollywood Foundation — named after her theme park in the Great Smoky Mountains — to inspire children in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she was from, to succeed in school. Through the foundation, Parton launched the Imagination Library in 1995, which has gifted hundreds of millions of books to children.
open image in galleryWhile Tennessee officials look to honor Parton by changing the name of Nashville’s airport, ironically, the singer was never into flaunting her accomplishments.
She was offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, during the first Trump administration twice, but turned it down.
“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she told the Today show in 2021.
She said she later heard from then-President Joe Biden about the medal, but “now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure.”
“But I don’t work for those awards,” she added. “It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”