All accounts tell me she was a sweetheart with a generous spirit bigger than…than – uh, I’m not gonna say. She never forgot her humble Smoky Mountain roots and never stopped caring about everyone else – especially those less fortunate.

I’ll always remember her best from the 1980 comedy film 9 to 5, which is the first and only movie I’ve seen her in. This is her debut feature film. About that…

I remember reading not too long ago that she memorized not only her own lines, but also other people’s lines in the film. She wanted to make sure she didn’t miss a thing, and wanted to make a good impression with her debut.

When I was in high school marching band, I had to memorize the music for my instrument (the alto saxophone), but also memorized other instrument’s parts just for fun (I figured them all out by ear, even all of the solos). This irritated my crusty band director, who would yell at me “Just play your own part!”

My gifts were apparently not appreciated as much as Dolly’s were 😂