Dolly Parton dies at 80 INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hoosiers on Tuesday mourned the death of singer-songwriter, actress and philanthropist Dolly Parton, a legendary entertainer whose impact reached far beyond the stage. “Somebody described it to me today as the queen of America dying,” Adam M eyers said, an employee at Square Cat Vinyl, a record shop in Indianapolis. “It just feels like one of our biggest positive beacons in American culture has left.” Dolly died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones after a “brief battle with cancer,” according to her publicist, Marcel Pariseau. Meyers said that within hours of Parton’s death, fans cleared the store of all merchandise related to her. “We’ve just sold every single one of her records,” he said. “Any piece of merch that we have of hers has just flown out the door already… Every single bit that we have in here that had her name on it, is sold out right now.” At Arthur’s Music Store, employees paid tribute to the country music icon by playing her hits throughout the building. “The world has lost a gem,” Emily Bolick said, a sales associate at the store. “Her songwriting is always on point… She always stressed being a kind person, being a nice person is important… Even if you didn’t know Dolly Parton’s songs, you knew Dolly Parton.” For some, Parton’s biggest impact happened not through her music, but through her work with children’s literacy. Her Imagination Library program mails free books each month to children younger than 5. She started the program in her home county in Tennessee in 1995; it now covers the U.S. and four other countries. “She did it because her father actually was illiterate and she saw how it held him back,” Kelly Wright said, director of the Imagination Library of Johnson County. “We’re sad, but we’re so lucky that we had her as long as we did, and we’re thankful for her, and her passing just makes us even more committed to furthering her mission and continuing her legacy as best as we can… Thank you, Dolly. We love you.” The Greenwood Public Library honored Parton and her literacy work with a book display in its lobby. Greenwood Public Library’s display of Dolly Parton featuring a life-size cut out of her. (Photo aired on Circle City Broadcasting) “I think one of the biggest things with Dolly Parton is how beloved she was by everybody,” Emily Ellis said, the library’s executive director and a self-proclaimed fan. “She found a way into the hearts of just about everybody, whether that’s through her music or movies or through literature, and so to have someone that just kind of crossed boundaries in that capacity that everybody loved, I think is going to be sorely missed when we have such kind of polarizing times here now… I don’t think there’s ever going to be anybody like Dolly.” PHOTOS | Dolly Parton’s glittering life in pictures ...read more read less