GLADYS PRESLEY~ELVIS' BELOVED MOTHER

Elvis' mother died in 1958, at the time when Elvis was at the start of his career. When Elvis got the news of her death, he rushed to the hospital where she had been on observation for hepatitis. No one - no relatives, friends or Elvis' father - could come through the condition of a total riot of minds that Elvis had at this time.

At the burial Elvis let go of a tidalwave of sorrow that embarrassed the funeral guests who had never experienced this kind of physical grief at a burial. With the death of his mother, Elvis went into a state of profound shock from which he would never fully emerge. To say Elvis was devastated, is the understatement of this century!!

Elvis At Age 3~Family Portrait

Almost everyone who had known Elvis during his adolescence and days of early fame has testified to his decency, charm and good humor. That young Elvis was still there, but another Elvis was emerging.

"I don't know why she had to go so young. But it did make me think about death. I don't feel I'll have a long life. That's why I have to get what I can from every day.

My mother, I suppose because I was an only child, I was a little bit closer, I mean, everyone loves their mother, but I was an only child and my mother was always right with me, all my life, and it wasn't just like losing a mother, it was like losing a friend, a companion, someone to talk to. I could wake her up any hour of the night and if I was worried or troubled about something she'd get up and try to help me."

I used to get very angry at her when I was growing up. It's a natural thing when a young person wants to go somewhere or do something and your mother won't let you, you think, "why, what's wrong with you?" But then later on in the years you find out, you know, that she was right. That she was only doing it to protect you, to keep you from getting in any trouble or getting hurt. And I'm very happy that she was kinda strict on me, very happy that it worked out the way it did.~Elvis, September 22, 1958~

Elvis was born in a simple shot-gun house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935 at the precise time of 4:35 AM. That is almost all the information you can get about Elvis' birthday. Except for one (not to be forgotten) thing. Half an hour earlier than Elvis, his twin brother was born. Jesse Garon was still-born. Gladys and Vernon were naturally heartbroken. Jesse was placed in a coffin (some sources say he was placed in a shoebox) and buried in the evening on an unmarked spot in the local churchyard. The Presleys never had any more children.

Elvis always missed his older brother, though he had never seen him. He felt his life was not complete without Jesse.

"I suppose it might have been different if my brother had lived, a lot of things might have been different. But he didn't live and I grew up alone. I guess my mother - and my father too, of course, were trying to make up for that, by giving me enough love for two."
~Elvis Presley, 1956~

As Elvis was raised in the South, where folk-music was predominant, he experienced the rough and unhappy time of depression when people sought trust in singing hillbilly-favorites and blues with a simple guitar accompaniment. Elvis was gorged with all the impressions of raw, fresh feelings and the measures rhythms of these songs.

In the photos of Gladys she rarely smiled, but here we see a little smile on her beautiful face

For Elvis' 10th birthday he was given a guitar from his parents. He had taken some lessons with his teacher, so he knew a few chords and he could sit in front of the radio all day just trying to pick out some tunes.

Gladys Looks Solomn

"I owe that to my father. To buy me my first guitar he quit smoking his beloved cigarettes for two months."Elvis Presley, 1956

In the summer of '45 the Presley family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, which is a big city compared to the small town of Tupelo. He soon found out that he enjoyed hanging around where the Black people lived and Beale Street.

One day Elvis went into the SUN Recording Studios to make a recording... just for fun, and he gave the only copy to his mother, although he maybe just wanted to know what he sounded like. He didn't know that the manager of the recording studio would call him up the following year and ask him to make a record for the SUN label.

~THE REST IS HISTORY~

The Family At Audubon Drive

Funny, she never really wanted anything, you know, anything fancy. She just stayed the same, all the way through the whole thing. I wish...there's a lot of things happened since she passed away that I wish she could have been around to see. It would have made her very happy and very proud.~Elvis, August 1962~

I suggest that you check out the only official Elvis Presley Site on the web. It is well done, and it includes up-to-date news about Elvis Presley and Graceland and such. If you like to surf further on, looking for Elvis, you'll most probably find some great sites by amateur webmasters (such as myself) with miscellaneous information and photos and lots of ElvisMania. It's a vast Elvis World out there so go have some fun!

GLADYS PAGE 2

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