08/26/2026
RIP Dolly 🙏❤️🐾
Did you know that one Dolly Parton had a Boston Terrier named Popeye?
Popeye was a gift from Dolly to her husband, Carl. Dolly chose a Boston because Carl had one when he was a boy. He named the little dog Popeye because of his big, prominent eyes. Popeye quickly became much more than a pet. Dolly described him as being like a new child in their home, and Carl would cuddle and hold him like a baby.
In the early 1980s, Dolly went through an intensely difficult period. She was struggling with her health and depression as well as the painful end of what she later described as an “affair of the heart.” At one of her darkest moments, Dolly was sitting alone in her bedroom when she noticed the gun she kept in her nightstand for protection. She looked at it for a long time and picked it up.
And then she heard Popeye.
Her little Boston came running up the stairs, and the sound of his paws jolted her back to reality. Dolly put the gun down and prayed. She later said she believed Popeye had been a “spiritual messenger from God.” She was careful to say she didn’t know whether she actually would have taken her life, but acknowledged that she had been in enough pain to understand how someone could reach that point.
Popeye remained deeply loved by both Dolly and Carl. When he became seriously ill, they pursued treatment with a new drug being tested at Auburn University, which gave them several more years with him. Popeye died peacefully in his sleep in Carl’s chair.
Carl was devastated. Dolly recalled that she had never seen a man so grief-stricken. He built Popeye a little coffin himself, wrapped him in one of Dolly’s robes that Popeye loved sleeping on, and buried him in their front yard beneath their bedroom window.
Dolly later enclosed Popeye’s grave with a fence and added a stone marker in the shape of a Boston Terrier. She said Carl grieved uncontrollably for a year and that it took him three years to get over losing Popeye. He couldn’t even bear to look at Popeye’s toys or pictures for a time and put them away.
Rest well, Dolly. We hope Carl – and one very special little Boston named Popeye – were there waiting for you. ❤️🐾
