Senior citizens at the Servier County Senior Center in Tennessee were in for a huge surprise on Monday, May 7 when Dolly Parton made a special guest appearance!
According to Knox News, Dolly appeared at the center for a dedication ceremony to rename the facility the “My People Senior Activity Center” in honor of her own parents, Robert and Avie Lee Parton.
Dolly performed for the group, and shared a speech about why she chose the name “My People.”
“I’m so honored and so proud to be here, and I want to thank everybody that’s had a part in this, and for years, I talked about my brothers and my sisters, my mom and dad and my aunts, uncles, cousins, and I call them my people,” she said.
“Now of course, when I started Dollywood and the employees there, I thought of them as my family, and they became my people, and of course when we … actually got involved in the fires up here in the heart of the Smokies. We call that My People, so I was just thinking, you know, I’m looking out at you, and I think you are, all of you, you’re my people, and this is great, and I’m so proud and so honored that I’m a Smoky Mountain girl, and I’m so proud of my home, and I’m so proud of my family.”
It’s reported that Dolly visited several classes that day, including woodworking, where she discovered that the women outnumbered the men, causing her to shout “GIRL POWER!”