The World Could Use More Dollys
In 2026, we’ve lost an unusual number of people who brought something genuinely good into the world; These people made us laugh, think, create, speak up, dream bigger, and simply feel a little less alone.
With SO MANY people we have loved and lost in 2026, some of the most recents come to mind:
Dolly Parton. Tim Curry. David Hockney. Yayoi Kusama. Gloria Steinem. Peter Cullen...
They couldn’t have been more different from one another. A country music superstar, a cult-film icon, two groundbreaking artists, a feminist trailblazer, and the unmistakable voice behind both Optimus Prime and Eeyore.
But maybe they had more in common than it seems.
Be More Like Dolly
If there were ever a case for leaving a place better than you found it, Dolly Parton made it.
She was enormously talented, wonderfully funny and completely comfortable being exactly who she was — rhinestones, big hair and all. But what made Dolly so beloved went far beyond her music.
She turned her success outward.
Dolly founded the Imagination Library after being inspired by her father's inability to read and write. What began in her small Tennessee hometown grew into a program that now gives millions of free books to children every month across five countries.
She proved that you can be wildly successful without losing your kindness, generous without making a spectacle of it, and completely yourself without insisting everyone else be like you.
The world could use a few more Dollys.
Be a Little Weird Like Tim
And while we’re at it, we could use a few more Tim Currys, too.
Tim Curry built a career out of refusing to be boring. From The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Clue, theater, animation and countless wonderfully eccentric characters, he embraced the strange, theatrical and unexpected.
For generations of people who ever felt a little too weird, too dramatic or too different, that mattered.
His work reminded us that fitting in isn’t necessarily the goal. Sometimes the thing that makes you unusual is exactly the thing worth sharing.
Keep Seeing the World Differently
David Hockney and Yayoi Kusama spent their lives doing something artists do especially well: showing us that the world doesn’t have to look the way we’ve always seen it.
Both artists remind us to stay curious. Make things. Notice things. Try something nobody quite understands yet.
The world needs people who see things differently.
Hockney found enormous beauty in seemingly ordinary things like swimming pools, landscapes, portraits, sunlight and everyday moments... and remained endlessly curious about new ways to create, experimenting with everything from photography to digital drawing. He died in June at age 88 after a career that helped redefine modern art.
Kusama created a universe that was unmistakably her own: polka dots, pumpkins, mirrors, repetition and infinity. She spent more than seven decades making art and continued painting until the final days of her life. Her studio described her as remaining devoted to the belief that love could help save the world.
What a beautiful thing to spend 97 years believing.
Speak Up Like Gloria
Gloria Steinem spent more than half a century speaking up for people who weren't always being heard.
As a journalist, organizer and co-founder of Ms. magazine, she helped move conversations about women's equality into the mainstream and spent decades advocating for greater freedom and opportunity. Even late in life, she continued writing, organizing, listening and encouraging younger generations to use their own voices.
You don’t have to agree with every person on every issue to appreciate the bigger lesson:
If something matters, care enough to say something.
And just as importantly, care enough to listen.
Be Strong Enough to Be Gentle
Then there was Peter Cullen...
So many people knew his voice before they even knew his name. He was the one that gave Optimus Prime his strength and authority, while giving Winnie The Pooh's, 'Eeyore', his lovable melancholy. *These two characters that couldn't be more different, yet loved by millions across the world.
When Cullen died in August at the age 85, his family asked people to honor him by serving their communities and leading with compassion, integrity and loyalty.
Their message ended with a phrase closely associated with Cullen and Optimus Prime: “Be strong enough to be gentle.”
And that message feels especially worth carrying forward.
----- We Are Still Here -----
The people we admire eventually leave us. What they put into the world doesn’t have to.
We can give like Dolly; Be weird like Tim; Stay curious like Hockney; Create fearlessly like Kusama; Speak up like Gloria; And be strong enough to be gentle like Peter Cullen.
The world can feel awfully loud, divided and heavy sometimes. We probably can’t begin to fix it all, but we can decide what we add to it.
Perhaps it's a little more kindness, creativity, or courage; Maybe it's more laughter, generosity, or room for people to be themselves.
Because while 2026 may have taken some truly remarkable people from us, it also left us with their example...
... And right now, the world could definitely use more Dollys.