Stella Parton Remembers Sister Dolly: Tuesday Coffee Calls, Generosity, and a Final Wish to Help Others

Dolly Parton's younger sister Stella Parton has paid tribute to the country singer in a Facebook post, describing her as "one of the most generous, thoughtful, and kind people I've ever known." Dolly Parton died on Tuesday, 26 August 2026, following a cancer diagnosis, her family confirmed in a social media post of "sweet reflections" on 27 August (Knox News).

Stella, three years younger than Dolly, wrote that her fondest childhood memories were singing with her sister at Blount Ave and playing dot-to-dot on the back pew of their church, giggling and getting in trouble. Those memories framed a lifetime of closeness that, for many years, centred on a weekly Tuesday-morning phone call the two sisters shared before sunrise. Dolly would joke during those calls: "We get more work done before the sun comes up than most folks do all day long!" (Rolling Stone).

Stella wrote that her Tuesday morning coffee time will never be the same, but that Dolly's love, respect, and goodness will remain. When Stella would criticise and complain about the world, Dolly would call her "Tedda" — a family nickname — and tell her they had more important things to do than worry about it.

Stella also shared that Dolly once told her that if she learned her health was terminal, she would allow doctors to try experimental drugs on her if it could help others in the future. "She loved the world and everyone in it," Stella wrote (People). The tribute did not specify whether such treatment was pursued in Dolly's final days.

At Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park Parton co-founded, tributes were displayed at the park entrance on 26 August, according to People.

Stella closed her tribute with a call to action. Dolly, she wrote, "left the world a better place by being in it so let's follow her example."