Flags across Washington state will be flown at half-staff through Sept. 1 in memory of Dolly Parton, the country music legend and renowned philanthropist. Gov. Bob Ferguson ordered the flags lowered after the announcement of the 80-year-old singer’s death in Nashville. According to her spokesperson, Parton died after battling cancer. President Donald Trump issued a similar order: Flags at the White House and across the country will also be flown at half-staff in honor of the artist.
Parton was remembered not only for her striking image, wit and decades-long music career, but also for her extensive philanthropic work. Her Imagination Library program sends free books each month to children from birth through age 5. In 2023, the singer introduced the program in Washington at a concert at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma, where she performed with a rhinestone-covered black guitar. The Library of Congress called her a “titan of childhood literacy,” while Lt. Gov. Denny Heck proclaimed Aug. 15 “Imagination Library Day in Washington.”
Recently, the program announced that it would resume operations statewide thanks to $3 million in grants from the Roots & Wings Foundation over two years, along with additional funding from the John and Tami Maric Family Foundation. Services had previously been suspended in several regions because of a lack of funds: The state budget did not cover the necessary half of the cost of the books, and local funding had declined. The new grants will stabilize the system and restore free monthly books for roughly 40,000 children, increasing the program’s total enrollment in the state to more than 100,000.
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