Country singing legend Dolly Parton, who helped low-income Maine children with a reading program, has died.
Parton passed away Tuesday in Nashville, her family announced.
The popular singer, whose musical creations derived from roots in poverty and illiteracy, ten years ago brought her major Pure & Simple Tour to Bangor, marking one of her final large-scale concert tours.
Parton’s legacy in Maine included Imagination Library in Aroostook County, to promote childhood literacy.
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams,” Parton said when she began the library in 1995. “They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer.
“The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
The program provided free books each month to children under age 5, including about 2,000 books every month to families in northern Maine.
Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Parton first started her Imagination Library for the children in her home county.
Today, her program spans five countries and gifts millions of free books each month to children around the world.
Imagination Library in Maine partnered with United Way encouraging early childhood literacy.
The organization joined with local hospitals and bookstores to provide every newborn with a bag containing four books, targeting among the poorest areas of Maine.
The nonprofit agency has been working with the Maine governor’s office to develop additional literacy initiatives that could bring books to more rural communities across the state in the future.
