At Fort Hood, Elvis had taken advantage of the regular rules that allowed soldiers to live off base with family, and had rented a house so that his parents could come out to stay with him. Throughout that summer, though, Mrs. Presley was feeling ill and run-down, and in August she had to be rushed back to Memphis and admitted to the hospital. When her condition turned critical, Elvis asked for leave to go to her, but for unknown reasons the army was very slow to grant permission. Elvis later told me that after waiting patiently for hours, he stormed into a commanding officer's office and announced that he was going AWOL and was going to hold a press conference in Memphis to say that the army would not allow him to visit his gravely ill mother. That got his leave granted and processed in about fifteen minutes.

Making a rare break from his mother's wishes, Elvis flew to Memphis, and Mr. Presley and I picked him up at the airport and got him over to the hospital. Alan Fortas, Elvis's young cousin Billy Smith, and I kept Elvis company all night in the hospital waiting room as. Mrs. Presley's condition was monitored. She wasn't getting any better, but she wasn't getting any worse, so sometime after midnight Elvis went back to Graceland to rest and Alan Fortas gave me a ride back to my place. I'd just started to drift off to sleep when Alan called me with the awful news: Mrs. Presley had passed away. She was gone at the age of forty-six.Friends and family first got together at Mr. Presley's brother Vester's house to avoid dealing with the fans gathered outside of Graceland. I was already in a state of grief— I'd loved Mrs. Presley like a second mother. 

But the sight of Elvis in his grief just ripped me apart. This friend of mine who had always been so strong for the rest of us was now crying so hard he could barely stand. And every time it seemed he'd calmed down a bit, he'd burst into sobs all over again. He was so distraught and so broken up —I'd just never seen a grown man in that much pain.

Elvis wanted to go back to Graceland, so we all went back with him.There wasn't anything any of us could really say that would help him, but we all wanted to be around to support him. Over the terrible week that followed, Mrs. Presley's funeral was planned. Elvis was like a lost soul, and several times I found him sitting in his mother's room, holding an article of her clothing and just weeping over it. Other times he and Vernon would simply hold each other and cry. Many of the friends that Elvis had made in Hollywood sent condolences and beautiful floral pieces, and Nick Adams actually turned up at the house. He never told Elvis, but he let me know that he'd taken himself out of the running for a big film part because he wanted to be there for his friend. By the time of the funeral, Elvis looked so weak that I worried he might collapse during the service.

After Mrs. Presley was laid to rest, during one of the quieter moments in the house, I found myself alone with Elvis, and he said, “You know, GK, all this Graceland stuff, the movies, the records, it's all been for my mom.It was all for her, and now she can't enjoy it." That had me so choked up that I couldn't answer him.

Much has been made of Elvis's relationship with his mother, but what I saw was that they were so similar in nature that in addition to sharing the love of a mother and son, they also had a dearly cherished friendship. She cared for him so much, and, truly, she was the anchor in his crazy life. He always counted on her for her support, her encouragement, her keen judge of character, and her unconditional love. I've come to believe that if Mrs.
Presley had lived a full life, Elvis would be with us today.

~ ©George Klein