President Trump ordered all American flags to fly at half-staff for a full week in honor of country music legend Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday.
“This is a true loss for millions of people,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There has never been anyone like her and never will.”
“Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you,” he wrote, hailing her as “one of the greatest country music singers, and far beyond, ever.”
The move lowers the flags at all federal buildings, military bases, U.S. embassies abroad, naval vessels and other government property. Flags will be moved to half-staff at 6 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday until sunset Sept. 1.
Ms. Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death. She was 80.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
“The sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus,” Mr. Seaver stressed in a video message.
“My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not.”
Parton reportedly turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on three occasions. She declined the honor twice under Mr. Trump and, again, under President Biden.
“I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she told NBC’s “Today” show in 2021.
“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” she said.
“But I don’t work for those awards,” Parton explained. “It’d be nice, but I’m not sure that I even deserve it. But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”
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