A Dolly Parton fan who recently had the chance to meet the music icon has died. LeGrand Gold, of Utah, passed away on February 8 following a battle with cancer. His passing comes less than two months after sharing a call with Parton.
Gold managed to knock one item off his bucket list. Parton herself sang her iconic hit “I Will Always Love You” to Gold on the phone. Doctors diagnosed Gold with stage four colorectal cancer in 2021. They gave him less than six months to live after the cancer spread to his liver and lymph nodes.
“I’m just happy to know that I’ve got a fan that devoted and that I’ve had a chance to watch that journey all these years,” Parton told Grand over the phone (via People). “I’m just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime. I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say and I’m just happy to know that I’ve touched your life in some way. So thank you for honoring me with that.”
Parton told Gold she “will always love” him. She realized her blunder at not singing the song. “I should’ve sung that, shouldn’t I?” She quickly rectified her mistake singing “I will always love LG.”
Fan Had Meeting Dolly Parton on Bucket List
Gold’s obituary also acknowledges the encounter between the two. “My name is LeGrand Gold, with a capital G. I’m LG to those who love me most, and yes, I am including Dolly Parton in with the rest of you.”
After his diagnosis, Gold made his version of the bucket list called List of Living. These were things he wanted to stay alive for. Chief among those things was getting the chance to meet Parton.
“Out of the 11 items [on the list], we thought Dolly would be the impossible, but true to Dolly form, she once again reminds the world that dreams really do come true,” his wife told People.
Speaking with NBC affiliate KSL, Gold said meeting Parton “made me feel good.” It made him feel immortal for a time. As they say, a kind gesture in a cruel world.
“She sang a song, put my name in the song,” he said. “I feel like I’m immortal now. That was really cool.”
Gold is survived by his wife and family.