For all of John Denver’s claims to fame — he was one of the most popular singer-songwriters of the 1970s, as well as an actor, an activist, and even a skiing commentator — he said it was fatherhood that was most important to him.

“At times I’ve got a really big ego. But I’ll tell you the best thing about me. I’m some guy’s dad; I’m some little gal’s dad,” he told People in 1979, getting misty-eyed. “When I die, if they say I was Annie’s husband and Zachary John and Anna Kate’s father, boy, that’s enough for me to be remembered by. That’s more than enough.”