Nashville, Tennessee – Country superstar Dolly Parton was laid to rest in a private service attended by her immediate family days her death at the age of 80.
The 9 to 5 hitmaker’s great-niece Lainey confirmed on Instagram that Dolly was buried next to her late husband, Carl Dean, at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville.
The caption under the post, which featured throwback photos of the Jolene singer, read, “This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words.”
Lainey continued, “From the time I was little, my granny always had a way of making me feel like I was enough. She never made my dreams feel too big or made me feel like I couldn’t do something. She believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself.”
In the emotional tribute, she also recalled their “4am phone calls,” as well as the late country singer’s iconic “voice, her laugh, her hugs,” and Lainey’s own singing on Dolly’s Smoky Mountain DNA album.
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Lainey concluded, “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 her burial, the Steel Magnolias star was honored with a musical tribute at the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday.
Artists such as Carly Pearce, Jelly Roll, and Molly Brown took the stage to perform renditions of Dolly’s greatest hits, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The I Will Always Love You crooner’s death was announced on August 25 by her nephew Bryan Seaver, while her rep confirmed that Dolly had passed following a brief battle with cancer.
