For much of the world, Dolly Parton was a country music legend. For Buchanan County resident David Blankenship, she was also the woman who sat beside him at breakfast, signed a photograph, kissed him on the cheek and made one of his greatest wishes come true.
Blankenship, who turned 75 on Monday, Aug. 31, is remembering that special connection following Parton’s death Tuesday, Aug. 25, in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.
His admiration for Parton reaches far beyond her most famous songs. Blankenship has followed her life and career for decades, learning about her music, movies, family and journey from a childhood in rural East Tennessee to international stardom.
That devotion led to an unforgettable meeting in the spring of 2002 — a story first shared with readers of The Virginia Mountaineer in its June 27, 2002, edition.
Under the headline “Hello Dolly!,” the newspaper told how the Rowe resident became one of only 10 people from across the country selected to meet Parton through the Dollywood Foundation’s outreach efforts.
Blankenship, who has lived with a mental disability since birth, traveled to Dollywood with his sister, Patty Chambers, and his caregiver, Rita McGlothlin. Chambers had contacted the foundation after learning about its programs for children and adults who were mentally or physically disabled or facing terminal illnesses.
“Anything we can do to bring him enjoyment, we try to do,” Chambers told The Mountaineer at the time. “I knew this was something that would really, really please him, so I gave it a shot, and it was a wonderful experience for him.”
After Chambers reached out to the foundation, Blankenship’s physician, Carolyn Thornsbury, wrote a letter on his behalf. His name was submitted, and the family soon learned he had been chosen for the spring breakfast reception held when Dollywood opened for the season.
The foundation provided Blankenship and his family with free parking passes, weekend admission to Dollywood and the opportunity to sit down for breakfast with Parton.
“I think we were all thrilled when we found out he had been chosen,” Chambers said in the 2002 article.
Parton spent time at each table, speaking individually with those selected to meet her, signing autographs and posing for photographs. When she reached Blankenship, she gave him more than an autograph.
Blankenship asked Parton to run her fingers through his hair, joking that it would make the other men at his church jealous. Parton granted the request, kissing him on the cheek and running her fingers through his hair.
“That was a special request,” Chambers recalled, describing Parton as kind and down to earth.
The meeting left a lasting impression on Blankenship.
“It felt pretty good to meet her,” he told The Mountaineer. “I really enjoyed it.”
Chambers said at the time that Parton took her time with everyone and never appeared to be in a hurry.
“Dolly came across as a really warm, down-to-earth person,” Chambers said. “She took her time with everybody who was there and didn’t try to hurry things up or rush.”
Blankenship’s connection with Parton and Dollywood did not end with that breakfast.
During Dollywood’s 20th-anniversary celebration in 2005, he left school for the day to attend the festivities. Parton appeared before guests inside a theater, where Blankenship received a prize resembling a golden ticket.
The pass granted him free admission to Dollywood for 20 years. That privilege is scheduled to end this year, closing a remarkable chapter that kept him connected to the park and the entertainer who had given him one of the most memorable days of his life.
The 2002 Mountaineer article also captured something larger than a fan meeting a celebrity. It told the story of a family and community working together to give Blankenship an opportunity he would always remember.
Chambers credited McGlothlin, members of Oakwood Full Gospel Church and others throughout the community for surrounding her brother with love and support.
“When you have a lot of love and support, it makes it easier to care for someone,” Chambers said at the time. “Our focus is on helping David and getting him involved in the things we know he will enjoy.”
Parton’s connection to Buchanan County reaches beyond Blankenship’s memories.
Through local support from the Buchanan County Public Library, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides age 5. Parton founded the program in 1995 in her native Sevier County, Tennessee, in honor of her father, who could not read or write. The effort eventually grew into an international childhood literacy program that placed hundreds of millions of books into the hands of children.
Parton rose from poverty in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains to become one of the most celebrated singers and songwriters in American music. Her best-known recordings include “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You.” She also built a successful career as an actress, businesswoman and philanthropist.
Her recordings, movies and charitable work created connections with people around the world. In Buchanan County, that legacy can be found in the books delivered to local children and in an old newspaper page showing a smiling Blankenship beside the woman he had long dreamed of meeting.
For Blankenship, Parton’s legacy is personal: a shared breakfast, an autograph, a kiss on the cheek, her fingers running through his hair and a golden ticket that extended the memory for another 20 years.
More than two decades after their meeting, the moment preserved in the pages of The Virginia Mountaineer remains exactly what his sister hoped it would become — a source of happiness that David Blankenship would never forget.
