Donna Huffaker remembers riding the bus with a teenage Dolly Parton and hearing her sing before the world knew her name.
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (Smokies.LIVE Information Center) — For many people in Sevier County, Dolly Parton was never just a superstar.
She was someone they grew up with.
Someone whose family they knew.
Someone who was part of the community long before the world knew her name.
For Donna Huffaker, that connection goes back to the middle of the 1960s, when she and Parton were both students and members of the Sevier County High School Band.
Huffaker remembered being about 12 years old. Parton was about 16.
Huffaker remembers riding the band bus on away games. While other students sat with their friends and boyfriends, Parton would settle in with her snare drum.
“She would put her snare drum beside of her, and she would look out the window, and she would sing,” Huffaker recalled.
There was a little room beside Parton, and a few times, Huffaker got to sit there.
At the time, there was no way to know the teenager sitting beside her would become one of the most famous people in the world.
“I just thought she was a nice student that let me sit beside of her,” Huffaker said.
Those moments have stayed with her.
“Every time I think about it, and especially today, she was singing,” Huffaker said.
Huffaker remembers Parton often singing quietly, sometimes moving between songs and gospel music.
“She didn’t say them real loud, but you could tell, you know, that was her thing, even then,” Huffaker said.
From the band bus to the world stage
Huffaker said Parton originally wanted to be a cheerleader, but her family couldn’t afford the tennis shoes.
Instead, she ended up in the band.
Looking back, Huffaker said it seems like the perfect place for someone whose life would become so deeply connected to music.
Parton’s connection to the band continued long after she left the school.
Huffaker said Parton has done a great deal for the band over the years, and Parton’s connection to the community has remained strong.
Huffaker also taught baton classes to some of Parton’s nieces, giving her another connection to the Parton family.
And while Huffaker joked that she never received a check directly from Dolly, she said she always joked that if she ever did, she would never cash it.
Apparently, Parton had already taken care of the parents.
A hometown loss
When Huffaker heard the news of Parton’s death, her first reaction was disbelief.
“I just thought, I hope it’s not for real,” she said.
It wasn’t long before she knew it was true.
She brought flowers as she remembered a woman who had been part of her life for decades.
For Huffaker, the loss is difficult to separate from the memories of a teenage girl sitting on a band bus, looking out the window and singing.
The world knew Dolly Parton as a singer, songwriter and philanthropist.
Huffaker knew her before all of that.
She knew the girl with the snare drum.
The girl who sang quietly on the bus.
The girl who made room for a younger bandmate to sit beside her.
“Special, special lady,” Huffaker said.
And in the community where Dolly Parton’s story began, that memory may be one of the most meaningful tributes of all.
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