SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — The reunion began at dusk here, outside the small courthouse square that had become an impromptu shrine to hometown legend Dolly Parton.
Robbie Thompson had flown in from Orlando. Garner Byram Jr. had raced south from Waynesboro, Virginia. Libby Rollf had rushed in from Kansas City, Kansas. Others made their way from Dayton, Ohio; Asheville, North Carolina; and elsewhere in Tennessee and Florida.