Dolly Parton, one of the most celebrated figures in country music history, died Tuesday at the age of 80. While fans around the world are mourning the loss of the iconic singer, her impact in West Michigan extended far beyond her music through the creation of her Imagination Library program.
Kate Purvis is the board president of Early Bird Books, the Kent County affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
“Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is this wonderful dream that Dolly came up with to mail books to children, and in our program, we mail one free book every month to children under the age of five,” Purvis said.
Parton started the program in 1995 as a way to help improve reading literacy across the country…