• Brian Seaver, Dolly Parton's nephew and long-serving head of security, delivered a formal video announcement of the country legend's passing
  • Seaver said Parton personally asked him years ago to make the announcement when the time came, revealing the trust she placed in family
  • The Parton and Owens family released the statement on behalf of those closest to the iconic singer and songwriter

Dolly Parton, one of the most celebrated figures in country music history, shared that she wanted to be buried in plush cotton and not in rhine stones that she wore all her life, her nephew has said.

Parton, died on August 25, with her family announcing the news through a formal video statement delivered by her nephew Brian Seaver on August 25.

Seaver, who served as Parton's head of security for more than two decades following his father Larry, who held the same role before him, spoke on behalf of the Parton and Owens family in a studio-recorded address.

The Family's Announcement

Seaver identified himself as the son of Cassie Parton and described his aunt by her full given name, Rebecca Parton-Dean. He said Parton had asked him to make this specific announcement years before he truly reckoned with what that request would one day mean.

"This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality," he said.

He described the weight of delivering the news as something he had mentally rehearsed over the years but had never genuinely felt until that moment arrived. Despite the grief, Seaver was careful to draw a distinction between the family's sorrow and Parton's own peace.

"Sadness lies with us, not with Dolly," he said, adding that she had lived fully in the light and, in his belief, had been reunited in heaven with her late usband Carl and her parents.

 Life That Opened Doors

In a video shared by NBS, Seaver reflected on a lifetime spent in Parton's orbit, recalling how he first joined her on the road as a child in the early 1980s. He credited her with opening opportunities not only for her family but for generations of performers, songwriters and dreamers across the world.

He described her legacy in agricultural terms that echoed her Appalachian roots: "Dolly was a farmer just like her daddy. He farmed the soil. She farmed songs and happiness."

In a final, tender detail, Seaver shared that Parton had expressed a wish to be laid to rest surrounded by soft cotton, having spent a lifetime adorned in heavy rhinestones.

 "She finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest," he said.

Seaver closed the statement with words drawn directly from Parton's most famous song: "She will always love you."