I ask you to tell me your stories and ideas frequently, and this is a perfect example why. I'll let reader Stephen P. share this wonderful piece of family history connected to Dolly Parton in his own words.

"I had a fun Lexington-related Dolly exploration yesterday. I have an old Lexington Public Library card of my late dad's that I've known for a while was signed by Dolly, but I never knew on what occasion it was autographed. I called my grandmother yesterday (101 years old!) and she thought it was probably when Dolly was in town 'with that guy she played with' and that it might have been at Red Mile.

"I couldn't find any record of this on the search-engine-reachable internet, but in the Herald Leader archives on newspapers.com I found it! This was definitely from when she and Porter Wagoner played at the Blue Grass Fair at Red Mile on July 30, 1971. My dad would have been 17 and Dolly would have been 25. The library card doesn't expire until 1975, which had me worried that the card might have been issued after 1971. But, no, my dad would turn 18 in September of 1971 and at that point would not have needed his own dad's signature on his library card (which was present — so he must have still been 17). The cards must have just had a 4 or 5 year expiration period. From what I can tell this is very common, so doesn't throw any wrenches in this reconstructed history.

Period library card. — Just the library card alone from this era is a treasure. | Stephen Parsons

"Anyway, I've been thinking a lot for the last day about it. Those two lives went on to affect me and the world in so many ways, largely unrelated. But for that moment, they were connected with each other. And there's a physical representation of that, which passed between their hands. And now it's in mine. We've been meaning for a while to frame it. Obviously, we will now."

Flyer showing Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performing together — What a show this must have been. | Archive

Thank you, Stephen. What I love most about this story is how the library card must have been handy, but is also the perfect symbol given what she would go on to do for books and reading. A beautiful reflection on beautiful people. - Editor Gwenda