Nashville airport board unanimously approves Dolly Parton name change

Nashville’s airport board voted Friday to unanimously approve the renaming of the city’s airport after the late country star Dolly Parton.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) proposed the name change shortly after Parton died last month at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer.

The Metro Nashville Airport Authority’s vote marks the first formal step toward dedicating Nashville International Airport to the iconic artist, who was born and raised in the Volunteer State.

The new name will be jointly determined by airport leaders and the Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit organization started by the late country artist in 1988.

In a statement last month announcing the renaming proposal, Lee said Parton’s “extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state.”

Parton was raised in a one-room cabin in Sevier County, Tenn., alongside her 11 siblings. She lived in Nashville up until her death and has made significant contributions to the state through her nonprofit organization’s Imagination Library and college scholarships.

“From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her,” the governor wrote.

“At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness,” he continued.

Before Parton’s death, there was a public push to dedicate the airport to the iconic country music artist. A petition supporting this renaming effort garnered more than 175,000 signatures.

Parton’s sister, Stella Parton, told CBS News’s Gayle King this week she thinks the renaming is a “great idea.”

“I think we ought to name it ‘United States of Dolly Parton,’ since you know, somebody else is naming everything something else,” she said, in an apparent criticism of President Trump’s recent push to rename Lake Ontario and New Mexico .

“The state of Dolly Parton,” she continued. “Let’s change the name of the state.”