I know I’m the last person on the internet to post about Dolly Parton. By the time the news of her death broke yesterday, I had to hurry up and get ready and be out the door. But my reaction was one of surprising sadness for the passing of one I never met and whose career I never followed particularly closely. It’s just that Parton’s been in the public eye and in our popular entertainment for basically my entire life. So I found myself thinking, “Oh no! Not Dolly!”

I know she was having some health challenges, but she had just posted an upbeat, folksy update on social media, I thought only a week or two ago, but I guess she recorded it some time back, and it had only just popped up in my feed. What a lovely person she was, with real concern for others. She never forgot her hardscrabble origins, and undoubtedly her own struggles – and faith – informed her inexhaustible empathy. But I also suspect she was just made that way.

She set up a foundation to promote literacy and education for kids. She helped finance hospitals and medical research. When forest fires swept through the Great Smoky Mountains in her native Siever County, she organized a telethon and rallied corporate support to raise more than $9 million in aid. Why can’t we have someone like her as president?

I’m very sorry to learn of her passing. The woman defined exuberance and positivity. Also, she was a hell of a songwriter, who touched millions around the world with her 100-watt beautiful soul. May she rest in peace.