Dolly Parton left behind generations of music, memories and an unmistakable place in American culture. But here in the Texas Panhandle, one of the most meaningful pieces of her legacy will continue showing up in a much quieter way — one book and one mailbox at a time.
Through Storybridge, about 10,000 children across multiple Panhandle counties are enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. From birth until age five, those children receive a free, age-appropriate book in the mail every month.
It is difficult to imagine a better legacy.
Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her father, Robert Lee Parton, who could not read or write. What began as an effort to help children in her home county in Tennessee eventually grew into a worldwide program dedicated to putting books into the hands of children during some of the most important developmental years of their lives.
That mission reached the Texas Panhandle through Storybridge in 2021.
“We launched Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 2021 in just Potter and Randall County. We quickly became the biggest Dolly Parton Imagination Library in the state of Texas and are proud to lead other affiliates,” said Chandra Perkins, executive director of Storybridge.
There is something especially powerful about a program this simple.
A child does not need to visit a library, have a parent who can afford to buy books or live near a bookstore. The book simply arrives. Every month, there is something new in the mailbox with that child's name on it.
And, according to Perkins, children developed a connection with the woman whose name was attached to those books.
“The children in our community love her and think she knows them personally because they have benefited from these tangible gifts,” Perkins said.
In a way, she did know them.
Parton could never personally meet the millions of children touched by the Imagination Library, but she understood something about them that mattered: A child's circumstances should not determine whether books are part of their childhood.
That idea is bigger than celebrity philanthropy. It is an investment in literacy, families and communities that can continue long after the person who started it is gone.
That is why families in the Panhandle should be reassured that Parton’s death does not mean the books will stop arriving.
“Dolly Parton, one of her skills of which she had so many was she’s a very shrewd business person,” Perkins said. “She has set up Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to last generations into the future.”
Perkins said there is no concern that the larger program will disappear.
“Everybody is aware that we’re set. There is no need to worry that the books will stop coming or the funding will run out on their end,” Perkins said. “They are set to continue Dolly’s dream. Her dream is that every child has access to this program.”
Now the Texas Panhandle has an opportunity — and perhaps an obligation — to help carry that dream forward.
Storybridge currently has the program operating in six counties and wants to eventually reach children throughout all 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle. Local support helps make that expansion possible.
“In the Panhandle, our future plans are to make sure that happens. So we are six counties into a goal of covering the whole Panhandle,” Perkins said.
That is a goal worth getting behind.
Parton's career could easily have been enough to define her legacy. The songs, performances, movies and awards ensured her place in entertainment history long ago.
But fame gave Parton resources and a platform, and she chose to use both to help children she would never meet.
Perkins believes that says something important about the person behind the celebrity.
“Personally, for me, what I find most compelling about her legacy as a person is love,” Perkins said. “The love that she has for every human being, even as a person with so many resources. She saw every human being as a child of God.”
Perhaps that is the part of Dolly Parton’s legacy worth remembering most.
Long after the performances are over, children across the Panhandle will still walk to their mailboxes and find a book waiting for them.
Some will ask their parents to read it that night. Some will eventually learn to read those books themselves. And years from now, some may remember that when they were little, Dolly Parton sent them books.
