Reba McEntire says she missed a late-July call from longtime friend Dolly Parton while she was in a meeting and could not reach her afterward. McEntire learned on Aug. 25 that Parton, 80, had died; she says she may never know why Parton called.
Before the missed call, the longtime friends had managed to speak after struggling to find time around their schedules. McEntire called that conversation “really special” and said she had not wanted to end it. She has not said Parton treated it as a goodbye or that anything seemed unusual.
Parton supported McEntire after a 1991 plane crash that killed eight members of McEntire’s band and crew, offering her band as McEntire struggled to return to the stage. McEntire later paid tribute to Parton by performing “Appalachian Memories” at the Sept. 14 Emmy In Memoriam.
