Jillian Haggerty
•8/26/2026
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (WINK)—The passing of Dolly Parton is hitting close to home for people across Southwest Florida who carried her legacy long before the world said goodbye.
For Alyssa Haney, the loss feels personal. She spent months playing Doralee Rhodes in The Naples Players' production of Nine to Five, a character made famous by Parton herself.
Haney says she was excited when she landed the part but quickly realized just how big those shoes were to fill.
The role pushed her to look past the glitz, the hair and the rhinestones and find the strength behind them.
"Even though she's gone, I hope that she is remembered in such a way that young women and all women continue to remember that it's possible to be glamorous and intelligent, soft and powerful. Her dynamism is just unmatched and her ability to lead with kindness and everything that she's done her entire life is something we could all take a lesson from," Haney said.
Haney says she never got the chance to meet Parton but playing her character left her feeling like she lost someone special.
For Shawn Gilstad, the grief runs even deeper. Gilstad, founder of Dolly's Imagination Library Charlotte County, first met Parton when he was just 13 years old.
"It was a life-changing event when Dolly walked into the room; she glowed," Gilstad said.
That first meeting never left him.
"You felt that special God thing that was radiating off of her, just oozing with charisma," Gilstad said.
Years later, that connection helped bring one of Parton's biggest dreams to life right here in Charlotte County.
In 2011, Gilstad and Sherrie Moody signed the papers to become co-founders of the Charlotte County affiliate of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. By March 2012, the first book was in the mail.
"We have now mailed out over two hundred sixty-seven thousand books from children aged birth to five here in Charlotte County," Moody said.
More than 13,000 children have participated in the program. Through a partnership with Charlotte County Public Schools, organizers have been able to track how those children performed.
"They do enormously better than children who have not been involved in the program," Moody said.
For Gilstad, it is a full-circle moment. The boy who once looked up to Parton is now helping carry on her legacy.
"She was always special and treated me special," Gilstad said.
Gilstad says he wants to keep that number of books growing because for him, keeping children reading and learning is the best way to keep Parton's dream alive.
