Dolly Parton was known to many as “The Queen of Country Music”, “The Backwoods Barbie” and “The Smoky Mountain Songbird,” but to former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade, she was simply, “friend.”
“Great lady, a life well-lived. I just really appreciate her and how she used her popularity to become such a philanthropist,” said Justice Wade. “It’s so important to everyone who not only lives here in her home community, but frankly all over the world. Great loss, huge loss. We knew it was coming, but we hoped it would be when she was about 105 years old.”
Justice Wade learned of Dolly’s passing while driving home from Knoxville after speaking to the Rotary Club about Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an organization that assists the National Park Service in its mission to preserve and protect the Smokies.
“I was actually appreciating all that Dolly had done in our early years to help make that such an important entity to our community here in the mountains,” said Justice Wade. “I missed my turn. It was shocking. It was short and Dolly has ended her days on this Earth, but I have no doubt where her next destination is.”
Justice Wade met Dolly at Sevierville County High School. She was two years ahead of him, graduating in 1964.
“We would pass each other in the hall. I would, of course, being a young, red-blooded male, admire her qualities as did everyone at school,” he said. “Also, she was a bit of a celebrity. Being on Knoxville TV was a big deal for anyone from small-town Sevierville. She was regularly on Cas Walker’s show (Cas Walker’s “Farm and Home” show featured many bluegrass singers). It was really neat to have someone already writing music, making records of her own music, and the school was aware of it. Everybody thought she was really cool.”
Fast forward a dozen years when Justice Wade served as Mayor of Sevierville.
“In those days whoever drew the short straw became the mayor of the town and I got the short straw,” he said. “I loved every minute of it for, altogether, 12 years in office while I was full-time practicing law.”
At that time, Dolly was performing yearly concerts at Sevierville County High School as a way of supporting her alma mater.
“It was tradition to ask the mayor to be the emcee,” said Justice Wade. “She recognized me immediately when I opened the program and, of course, I recognized her as well. She had a flirty personality.”
Later on, Justice Wade was featured in a homecoming segment of Dolly’s variety show, which she taped in Sevierville.
“She asked me to be her ‘public relations boyfriend’ and so I was king for a day being Dolly’s boyfriend!” said Justice Wade. “She invited our class reunion to it. Since Dolly hadn’t dated anyone in our class, she was free to choose anybody for the boyfriend role. My law office was just across the street from where the Dolly statue is today. I was an easy target and loved every minute of it. Just honored to be a part of her life and it continued on in several ways as time went on.”
Justice Wade recalls when Dolly Parton Parkway opened. He invited several dignitaries, the department of transportation, even late-night talk show host Johnny Carson made the list. Carson even read the invitation letter on air to his television audience.
“We cut the ribbon and two or three of the state dignitaries were in the crowd and they wanted to say a word or two to Dolly and, of course, I welcomed that,” said Justice Wade. “One of the speakers gave Dolly some good advice. He said, Dolly, as you go up the ladder of success, please remember and be kind to all of those people you meet along the way because when you come back down those same people will be there. He was very sincere in passing along that message. Well, Dolly was quick to quip, ‘I’m not coming back down from that ladder.’ And I think her popularity today, as I look down to the courthouse yard in Sevierville -- there’s still hundreds of people bringing flowers, just driving to town to be with her statue, leaving gifts there--it’s just amazing how people just love her. And, yes, she never came back down from that ladder of success. Of course, she took seriously the advice of the person who conveyed those words, but her sense of humor was just so quick and good. That was a perfect answer and as it turns out she was telling of her future.”
To many fans, Dolly Parton was a national treasure. Some might say an international treasure since people worldwide loved her.
“She probably could have been elected president of our country had that been her ambition,” said Justice Wade. “She was just a genuinely good person with a great sense of humor and just so easy to love because of her candor and her honesty, and that just came through so clearly to people who went to her shows, went to Dollywood, or watched her on television. She was just so genuine, didn’t take herself that seriously but she certainly did her work. I always thought that her huge asset was her song writing ability. Obviously, many of the hits that she had reflect that. Just an amazing individual, easy to love.”
Justice Wade wrote about his friendship with Dolly Parton for City View Magazine in December 2021. To read the article, “The Truth About Dolly”, click here:
