I just passed through Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The damage from last year's fires is still highly evident in that town and the surrounding country, and will be for some time. By coincidence one of my cousins is a civil engineer up that way, and he has his hands absolutely full trying to rebuild the hundreds and hundreds of structures that were destroyed -- indeed, I think he said it was a few thousand structures he had on his plate. There is a real shortage of engineers who are experienced working on mountainsides, and thus there isn't the flood of help from outside the Tennessee mountains that one would expect.
So it is with pleasure that I read about native daughter Dolly Parton's extraordinary generosity in helping her fellow folks. Having grown up in tremendous poverty, and then attained substantial wealth, she never forgets how hard life can be in those mountains.
4 comments:
This is real charity- direct, personal, and effective. What a woman!
I was never a big fan of Dolly Parton's music- though I acknowledge "Coat of Many Colors" is a pretty good song. However, I am a Dolly Parton fan of sorts. I once viewed Dolly Parton being interviewed at a time when she had been famous for some years. She didn't have an "Aw shucks 'lil 'ol me" attitude about her fame. She explicitly said that from an early age she wanted to become a big-time singer-songwriter, and focused her energies on doing just that. There was no false modesty from Dolly in that interview, but a focused determination that one can only admire. We all have had childhood fantasies- she acted on hers.
I once worked in a company with an accountant who had dealt with Dolly Parton. The accountant had nothing but good things to say about the way Dolly Parton treated people.
"Nice guys finish last" doesn't appear to apply to Dolly Parton.
Good Woman
Takes the Gosple to heart.
Saint Material.
-Mississippi
I've liked her in every interview I've seen her do. Her music isn't my first choice, but I could listen to her voice all day.
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