TROY, Ala (TROJANVISION) — September 1 marked the final day of flags being lowered to half-staff for music legend Dolly Parton, but people around Troy are still remembering the Tennessee icon.

Music icon Dolly Parton traveled across the world singing her songs, but in 1978 the global sensation came to Troy University for a concert. Doc Kirby, a local radio host, was one of the people there. Despite Troy’s small population, Kirby says Dolly treated Troy like it was Nashville.

“She came out and was just gracious,” She acted like this was the biggest deal and treated us just like we were the Grand Ole Opry. She was like “I’m so excited you’re here; I’m so glad you came to see me and my band; we’re so happy to be here with you, and we hope you enjoy our show. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. She tore the house down.”

Before the concert, Troy media groups held a press conference for Dolly. Kirby recalls how WTBF caused Dolly to be late to the press conference.

“We thought we would all chip in and buy a T-shirt for her,” Kirby said. “On the front, we will have printed hello Dolly and on the back we will all sign it.

“We all pitched in and bought a dozen roses, and we took the roses and the T-shirt to the Holiday Inn for her. Apparently, when she got to the Holiday Inn and found it, she was so thrilled that she called the radio station to say thank you. She found our name in the phone book and called, and our secretary, who was a college student, thought it was a gag, thinking that somebody was impersonating Dolly Parton because she was going to be in town that night.

“Finally, Dolly said ‘But it’s really me,’ and the girl goes ‘Oh my gosh I’m so sorry you’re Dolly Parton.'”

After the press conference, Kirby met Dolly face-to-fac and asked her for a favor.

“If you get a celebrity singer in town, you ask them to record something that you can use on your radio show later,” Kirby said “I asked her if she would mind doing something like that, and she was used to doing those sorts of things for radio stations. She deferred and said she was sorry that she was running late.

“She said, ‘If you give me your card, I promise that I will record something for you.’ We said our goodbyes and I went back to the radio station and on the way back to the station, I thought, well, that was a very gracious way of a big star saying, ‘You’re too small for me to bother with’, but at least she didn’t say no.

“About six weeks later, I got a little mailer bag, and on the return address was just the letters D.P. I thought what is this and when I open it up, it had a cassette and a note. When the tour was over, she went to a studio in Nashville and recorded six liners, three for me, three for the radio station.”

One liner says: “Hi, this is Dolly Parton, and I just want to remind you that you’re listening to my good buddy Doc Kirby right here on WTBF Radio, and you should stay tuned. It’s the best one there is, and so is he.”

While another goes: “Hi this is Dolly Parton, and you’re listening to my good buddy Doc Kirby right here on WTBF. You stay tuned; you’ll love him. Everybody does.”

Almost 50 years later, these IDs continue to air on WTBF.

 “Any time Dolly released a song after that, and she released a lot of hit songs after that, it played on my radio station,” Kirby said. “Regardless of what style of music we were playing, if Dolly came out with a record, we played that record, and I played my liner. It’s been 48 years.”

Kirby says he’ll never forget that small act of kindness and that it proves the type of person the music legend was.

 “She was genuinely nice to go out of her way to make those little IDs for me just what a sweet, little thing to do,” Kirby said. “Would that make her a million record sales? No, but she did it because she was a sweet person and everything I’ve ever read about her since said that that she stayed the same genuine person her whole life that she was when I met her 48 years ago.”

While some might remember the Queen of Country for the music she made, others will remember Dolly Parton for the person she was.