Dolly Parton, who died this week at age 80, belonged to America. But she also was tied to us here in the Fox Valley, if not literally then certainly in a literary way.
Her generosity quietly found its way into thousands of homes in Kendall and Kane counties through a partnership with Fox Valley United Way and Dolly’s “Imagination Library.”
The idea was beautifully simple: Give children the gift of reading. Through the Imagination Library, kids from birth through their fifth birthday receive a brand new age-appropriate book every month, mailed directly to their home at no cost to families, with nothing asked in return except that the book be opened and read.
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Dolly created the Imagination Library in 1995, inspired in part by her father who could not read. More than three decades later, the program has distributed hundreds of millions of books to kids around the world, including 58,652 in Kane County since March of 2025 and another 54,561 in Kendall County since May of 2024.
Fox Valley United Way became the local partner in March of 2024, securing local funding for the books as well as postage, with the Dollywood Foundation covering many of the program’s overhead and administrative costs. That means Dolly’s legacy isn’t something that exists only in Nashville or a recording studio or on stage. It is sitting on a child’s bookshelf, being held by a small child, being read at bedtime by a mother or father who might not otherwise have a new book to share.
Parton spent her life entertaining America but also reminding us kindness does not have to be complicated, said Tricia Hoover, director of community impact for Fox Valley United Way, which oversees distribution of these books to around 8,700 children in Kendall and Kane counties.
“I absolutely cried” upon learning the legendary singer had died, Hoover told me. “It’s like having a family member pass. That’s how much I adored her.”
With good reason. Hoover was raised a Dolly fan thanks to her grandmother Victoria, who also grew up in a large family in the coal-mining hills of Kentucky, with that same impoverished but loving background reflected in the Tennessee-born Parton’s hit song, “Coat of Many Colors.”
“She had Dolly’s heart,” said Hoover of her grandmother, who passed away in December just shy of her 98th birthday. They not only shared similar childhoods but possessed the same work ethic that, for “Grandma Vicky,” included working in a factory at age 15, and understanding that mindset portrayed in Parton’s classic “9 to 5″ movie, which took a close but humorous look at feminism.
Hoover left a career in corporate sales and consulting about a year ago to take the position at United Way in large part to be involved in Dolly’s program – although she’s quick to correct a “common misconception” that she worked directly with the superstar.
But that assumption, she said, only underscores the level of star power Dolly achieved while “remaining remarkably relatable.”
It’s why this week’s news hit so many so hard.
Because of the media attention over Dolly Parton’s death, Imagination Library, which is available to all families regardless of income, has been inundated with people wanting to sign up, said Hoover, who’s had a front row seat to how an “80-year-old country singer can have this kind of impact” on such a diversity of ages, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
The attention her death has brought to the program “would make Dolly smile,” said Hoover, who’s also been able to see first-hand what this project has meant to local families.
“If there is a delay in getting these books out, parents call,” she said, noting it’s this level of “engagement” that is perhaps the clearest measure of the legacy Dolly Parton built.
Not only did the iconic entertainer make us laugh and sing, Hoover pointed out, she “made us think a little harder about the people around us, their history and the dreams they hold dear in their hearts.”