Nashville International Airport could soon carry a new name - Dolly Parton's.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Friday that his office and the airport, known as BNA, intend to rename the travel hub in honor of the country music icon, who died August 25 in Nashville at age 80.
"Dolly Parton's extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state," Lee said in a statement. "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."
Lee said he spoke with Parton's team about the proposal this week. According to the governor's office, her representatives said they were "touched by the idea" and open to further conversation about a lasting tribute.
The announcement follows a petition to rename the airport "Dolly Parton International Airport," which has drawn more than 164,000 signatures, many added in the days since Parton's death. The Metro Nashville Airport Authority will take up the proposal - along with a naming policy that currently requires honorees to have been deceased for at least two years - at its meeting on September 17.
Parton, raised in a one-room cabin in Sevier County as the fourth of 12 children, was open throughout her career about her Christian faith, recording multiple gospel albums and crediting her upbringing in the church for shaping her music and generosity - including her Imagination Library, which has given hundreds of millions of free books to children worldwide.
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