Everything to Know About Dolly Parton's Funeral Plans — Including Her Final Wishes, Service, Burial, Song and More

Dolly Parton reportedly began planning for her own funeral a year before her death.

The Queen of Country, who died on August 25 at age 80, was said to have started putting her final wishes in place following the death of her husband, Carl Dean, on March 3, 2025. The couple had been married for 58 years, from 1966 until Dean's passing.

A source told RadarOnline.com that Parton knew she "wasn't going to live forever," adding, "And, frankly, she's been dying of a broken heart ever since Carl died. She just hasn't been the same."

Following Parton's death, OK! takes a closer look at the funeral arrangements and final wishes she put in place beforehand.

As OK! reported, Parton requested "a small, private service" for her immediate family.

In a statement, her team confirmed her loved ones would hold a small gathering, though the "Jolene" singer's family and friends had been "encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media" by tagging her in posts or leaving a message on her website.

In lieu of flowers, Parton's family asked for donations to be made to her Imagination Library, which is "dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to age five, through funding shared by Dolly Parton and local community partners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland."

Prior to her death, Parton requested that the gospel hymn "If We Never Meet Again" be sung at her funeral service because it was her "daddy's favorite."

"There's a song called 'If We Never Meet Again.' It's an old country-gospel church song that talks about if we never meet again this side of heaven, I will meet you on that beautiful shore. 'Where the charming roses bloom forever and where separations come no more,'" she explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2014. "That was my daddy's favorite. We did sing it at his funeral, and I would like it to be sung at mine."

Additionally, she said they would play her 1973 song "I Will Always Love You," which went on to become a worldwide commercial success when Whitney Houston released her own version for the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

"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," she said of Houston's 2012 funeral.

The "9 to 5" hitmaker was laid to rest next to Dean at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tenn., on August 28.

"It still doesn't feel real that she's gone," her niece Lainey Mae Parton wrote on August 29. "I'm going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there. I'm even going to miss those 4 AM calls, and I'd give anything to see her name pop up on my phone again."

Lainey Mae expressed, "I feel incredibly lucky that I got to call her my granny. Thank you for always believing in me, loving me, and making me feel like I could do anything. I love you, Granny. Always."

Following Dolly's death, her family honored her wishes with a small, private service for immediate relatives rather than a formal public memorial.

Fans were later given a chance to celebrate her legacy at a Grand Ole Opry tribute on August 29, where Belle Frantz, Kathy Mattea, Carly Pearce, Ketch Secor, Molly Tuttle, Channing Wilson and Jelly Roll performed.