Dolly Parton Fan Who Received Viral Surprise Serenade by Star amid Cancer Journey Dies at 48

LeGrand Gold, the lifelong Dolly Parton fan who received a viral bucket list call from the star amid his cancer journey, has died. He was 48.

Gold died on Feb. 8 in Utah, less than two months after Parton, 78, surprised him with a sweet phone call, in which she serenaded him with her hit “I Will Always Love You.”

“I’m just happy to know that I’ve got a fan that devoted and that I’ve had a chance to watch that journey all these years,” Parton told Grand over the phone, according to video shared by his wife Alice. “I’m just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime. I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say and I’m just happy to know that I’ve touched your life in some way. So thank you for honoring me with that.”

As they wrapped the call, Parton told Gold she “will always love” him before quipping, “I should’ve sung that, shouldn’t I?” Afterwards, she did just that, swapping her famous lyric with, “I will always love LG.”

In an obituary written by his family but in his voice, Gold joked, “My name is LeGrand Gold, with a capital G. I’m LG to those who love me most, and yes, I am including Dolly Parton in with the rest of you.”

Gold, a computer programmer and father of five, was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in 2021, and his illness spread to his lymph nodes and liver. In September, he was given less than six months to live due to liver failure, according to a GoFundMe page raising money for his family.

In light of his diagnosis, he made a bucket list called LG’s List of Living to keep his spirits up, which included things like attending a March Madness game, going on an RV road trip and meeting Parton.

"Out of the 11 items [on the list], we thought Dolly would be the impossible, but true to Dolly form, she once again reminds the world that dreams really do come true,” Alice told PEOPLE in December.

Gold, meanwhile, told local NBC affiliate KSL at the time that the call from Parton “made me feel good.”

“She sang a song, put my name in the song,” he said. “I feel like I’m immortal now. That was really cool.”

According to the GoFundMe, Gold loved “spending time with his kids, watching anything and everything NBA related and going to state and national parks with his family.”

He was described as “a sweet-tempered and a quiet man but always has the best comedic timing and never fails to make you laugh. He is the grounding rock of his family and loved and adored by all.”