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Utah man serenaded by Dolly Parton in final wish dies of colon cancer at 48

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Utah man serenaded by Dolly Parton in final wish dies of colon cancer at 48



LeGrand Gold of Orem, Utah was married a father of five who adored Dolly Parton. The country legend serenaded Gold in December, three months before he died of colon cancer on Feb. 8

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LeGrand Gold, a father of five living from Utah who idolized Dolly Parton and was serenaded by the country legend just before Christmas, has died after a two-year battle with colon cancer, according to an obituary written by largely by himself. He was 48.

Gold died of cancer on Feb. 8, according to the obituary, which described the Orem man as “someone you could always fall back on.”

Gold, who went by the initials, L.G., spoke with Parton through video call last December, fulfilling a life long dream. The country music legend expressed appreciation for years of appreciating her work in the video posted to YouTube on Dec. 22, 2023.

“I really do thank you for shooting out the word that you’d like to talk to me,” Parton said. “I’m just happy that we got to kind of have our journey together in this lifetime. I always want to make people happy with my music and with the things I do and the things I say, and I’m just happy to know that I’ve touched your life in some way so thank you for honoring me with that.”

‘I will always love you’: See Dolly Parton grant Utah man’s dying wish to meet her

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Who was L.G. Gold?

Gold was a computer programmer and was married to his wife, Alice Gold, for 26 years.

His family wrote Gold’s obituary in first person because he had put off writing it “one day too long.” In it, they emphasized Gold’s famous sense of humor so that his loved ones “might remember how he could make just about anybody laugh.

“I have finally succumbed to a poorly dealt hand, consisting of colon cancer, a really big thigh zit, a little bit of liver failure, and Alice,” the obituary says before going on to talk about his love of basketball, national parks, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and of course, Parton.

The obituary says his five children − Abigail, Sophia, Bella, Caroline and Maximus − “are my biggest accomplishment, and my most diverse collection.”

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“Alice likes to say they worship the ground I walk on, but I haven’t noticed,” it reads. “I’ve been too busy admiring the stars that they reach for.”

Parton sang ‘I will always love you’ in video call

Back in December when Gold got to meet Parton in a video call, he got to tell the “Jolene” singer that she had been “a huge help” in his life, “especially these past two years.”

In a video captured by Alice, Parton wished L.G. a good Christmas and and sang part of her iconic 1973 song, “I Will Always Love You.”

“I will always love L.G.” she sang.

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At the time, Gold told local station KSL-TV that his doctors had recently told him his cancer treatment was no longer having an effect, so he decided to write a bucket list of things he still wanted to do. One of them was meeting Parton.

“I thought, ‘Well, it’s never going to happen,’” he told the station.

But Parton got word of Gold’s wish and came through for him, just in time for Christmas, chatting with him on Dec. 22.

‘Grounding rock of his family and adored by all’

Gold was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in 2021 despite being in relatively good health, according to his GoFundMe page. He endured a brutal chemotherapy journey in the following years.

His family has reached over $23,000 in donations as of Friday. His family will remember Gold for his positive spirit, generosity and humor.

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“He is a sweet-tempered and a quiet man but always has the best comedic timing and never fails to make you laugh,” the GoFundMe page said. “He is the grounding rock of his family and adored by all.”



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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?

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Utah Jazz Reacts: Who should the Jazz draft?


The NBA Draft is less than a week away, and the Utah Jazz have a big decision to make. What’s difficult for the Jazz is that there isn’t an obvious choice between some incredible prospects at the top of the draft: AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer. Obviously, everything depends on what the Washington Wizards decide to do with their pick. But with all the smoke screens we’ve seen, it’s not clear who will be available to the Jazz.

That’s where you come in. If you were the Utah Jazz and you had the chance to choose between AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer, who would you choose?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Jazz fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.



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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy

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Utah first lady Abby Cox optimistic about legislative moves to strengthen child literacy


SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is no stranger to discourse surrounding early child literacy.

While the Beehive State generally performs higher than other states in terms of proficiency measures, its leaders still recognize — especially post-COVID — that it’s a real issue that demands serious solutions.

A legislative audit released Tuesday said Utah school teachers and administrators should focus enhanced attention not only on third-graders, the traditional benchmark for early literacy, but also on first-graders, where data starts spotting early literacy challenges in young students.

Then, Utah first lady Abby Cox on Wednesday added to that discussion, speaking with Utah education and policy leaders about the need to meet the literacy crisis head-on and ways Utah has worked to do just that.

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“We’re not in the best place that we can be, and we’re a little ahead of the national average; we always have been, but that still isn’t great. We’re in a moment where everybody’s starting to realize this … business community, educators, all of us coming together to realize there’s an issue here,” Cox said.

She mentioned the passage of SB241 during the 2026 legislative session, which committed $25.6 million to literacy coaching, increased the statewide goal to have 80% of third-graders reading at grade-level by 2030 and includes an intervention measure requiring struggling third-graders to repeat the grade — “except in cases of certain good cause exemption.”

“I know we can get 97-plus percent of our kiddos reading on grade level by third grade. We can do this,” Cox said.

She also emphasized the need to get “attention-sucking machines,” AKA cellphones, out of classrooms — something top lawmakers in the state have made strides to emphasize.

July 1 will mark the start of a new Utah law ushered in with the passage of SB69 that essentially places a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones at Utah’s K-12 public schools, unless a school or district opts for a looser policy.

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The latest piece of legislation was built upon a similar bill passed during the 2025 session that set a default policy barring students from using their phones during class time.

Despite those restrictions, many lawmakers and educators argued they didn’t go far enough, which led to SB69.

“I don’t think we all know enough about how wonderful this is going to be,” Cox said, adding that data has shown library book checkouts have skyrocketed in schools that have instituted daylong cellphone ban policies.

“I talked to a principal who, after the first day of going bell-to-bell, walked into his high school lunch room, thinking there was a fight, because there was all this chaos and noise … and it was just (students) communicating with each other, playing cards, bringing little games,” Cox said. “It was just beautiful to see, and I think we’re going to see an incredible resurgence as we implement this statewide.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup

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Here’s why Bosnia-Herzegovina fans in Utah are living a ‘dream’ during the World Cup


The nation’s soccer team practiced in front of fans this week at Real Salt Lake’s stadium in Sandy.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

The majority of the Bosnians living in Utah did not leave for the Wasatch Front under favorable circumstances.

The Bosnian War in the mid-1990s brought more than 100,000 refugees to the United States, with thousands settling in Salt Lake City.

Thirty years later, however, a moment of celebration brought thousands of Bosnian-Americans together with the arrival of their country’s soccer team in Utah.

Blue and white jerseys flooded the plaza and stands of Real Salt Lake’s Sandy stadium on Monday to watch Bosnia-Herzegovina’s soccer team, which has made Utah its home base in between World Cup games.

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(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

“It was like a dream,” Anel Alagic, who was born in Bosnia but raised in Salt Lake, said. “That we qualified for the World Cup was crazy, but then they told us that the home base would never be here in Salt Lake. It’s surreal.”

The festivities extended beyond the field, as well, with several vendors and volunteers serving Bosnian food and drinks, including its signature coffee from the world’s largest coffee pot, which was made in Bosnia.

The pot is traveling with the national team, heading to Los Angeles on Thursday for a match against Switzerland and then to Seattle for Bosnia’s June 24 match against Qatar.

A dream just to qualify

Bosnia has qualified for the World Cup just twice since declaring its independence in 1992, with the first time coming in Brazil in 2014. This year’s team qualified in dramatic fashion, defeating four-time World Cup champion Italy on penalty kicks.

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The Bosnian fans are not taking their team’s presence in the World Cup for granted, with a viral video showing thousands marching in Toronto before the first game and 40,000 to 50,000 expected to be in attendance in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Two Bosnian restaurants in Salt Lake, Cafe on Main and Old Bridge Cafe, will both be closing their doors on Thursday to make the trek to California in support of their country.

And it’s not just people born in Bosnia jumping on the bandwagon, with Cafe on Main saying several Americans showed up in Bosnia jerseys to watch the opening game at the restaurant last week in a packed house.

“I’ve invited a lot of my co-workers and friends that typically don’t even watch soccer,” Alagic said of Bosnia World Cup fever catching on, thanks to events like the open training session. “I was like, ‘We’re having this event. Show out.’ I’ve seen a lot of people here, so it’s cool.”

Bringing people together

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Fans cheer as Bosnia-Herzegovina players practice for the World Cup during an open training session at America First Field in Sandy on Monday.

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“Because of the war, our community is all over the world,” said RSL goalkeeper coach Mirza Harambasic, who is Bosnian. “It’s especially strong in the United States, and it’s strong here in Salt Lake City. So obviously everyone is so excited, so happy to be here, so happy to support.”

Harambasic was born in Bosnia and, like many others, came to the U.S. in the ‘90s. He helped coordinate Monday’s event and was confident in Salt Lake’s ability to accommodate the soccer needs of a World Cup team.

“When you talk about an environment to be successful, I don’t think there are many better places in the United States,” Harambasic said. “As far as city, lifestyle, training at elevation, and then obviously the facilities that RSL provides.”

With the first two games in Bosnia’s Group B ending in 1-1 draws, the top two spots are still very much up for the taking, giving fans just enough hope that the country can advance beyond the World Cup group stage for the first time in its history.

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