The marker for
Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis' twin, is placed in honor at Graceland®. |
remembers
Gladys Smith Presley.
Every year in Verona, MS, there is a fair,
The Tupelo Festival, put together by Julian Riley, owner and proprietor
of the Verona town hall complex and museum, starting at the very
same building where Gladys Love Smith and Vernon Presley were married
on 
Each year a couple reinacts the wedding of
Gladys and Vernon and in the photo is this year's portrayor of Gladys
along with a Mansell/ Smith cousin, little Charles Aron Pruette,
grandson of Elbert S. and Mary Etta Smith of Memphis. Mary is of
the Mansell/Smith family. Her grandparents were Mary Mansell and
Albert Smith. Some members of the Presley, Mansell, and Hood families
are often in town attending this celebration and memorial tribute
to Elvis' roots. An interesting story involving Gladys and Vernon's
marriage certificate: Elvis found it an altered the names to read
Elvis Presley and Magdalene Morgan. Morgan was Elvis' first girlfriend.
The Morgan family is connected to the Presley line as well, by several
Presley/Morgan intermarriages including a sister of Vernon who married
a Morgan.
My personal tribute to a very special lady
who gave the world one of it's greatest stars,her son Elvis.
Elvis kisses his beloved mama good bye at the induction
center. From this day forward Gladys was never the same and her health
began to take a downward turn. She would die before Elvis' tenure in the
US Army was completed. While Elvis was still a soldier he attended his
mother's funeral on August 18, 1958, the same day 21 years later when
his own funeral took place in the same cemetery, Forest Hills in Memphis.
It is here where the ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of Glady's
death will be held. The wake was held over because Elvis would not let
his mother go. At the cemetery service below, Elvis had to be restrained
as he threw himself atop the coffin as it was going to ground. 
"Look after my boy." - Gladys Love Smith Presley
The tomb where Gladys was originally laid to rest in Forest
Hills Cemetery was marked with this beautiful statue that now rests in
the meditation garden at Graceland® Below is Gladys' grave in Gracelands®
meditation garden..
<<Back
| Gladys never wanted her son to become famous as
she feared he would be taken away from her completely. She could
not deal with his almost instantaneous success but never lived to
see him come full circle. Elvis said he did it for her, and when
she died, everything he had, he said, was gone. Photos from personal family photos and news clippings. The following You Tube Video of Gladys' interview was sent to us by an unknown source and as we wish to give proper credit, until such time as we know who the contributor is, we can only credit Gladys for enabling this to happen. God Bless. |
Gladys and Vernon Presley Interveiw. Hear Glady's actual sweet voice.
Photo of the bedroom at Graceland® that Elvis prepared for
Gladys and Vernon
