Mackey Hargett's Tribute To Vernon Presley When
cousin, Mackey Hargett, first told me about his plans to commemorate
Vernon Presley's birthplace, I prayed that all would go through
for him, just as he had hoped, for he was so excited about doing
this.
When Mackey first visited with Vernon Presley at Graceland®,
he was overcome with awe as he sat in the kitchen chatting with
Vernon and in walked cousin Elvis. "Elvis,"
said Vernon, "this is a cousin of
yours on the Wallace side of the family..." That
begins the story that Mackey has since told, the truth about the
Roots of Elvis Presley.
Mackey had become quite close with Vernon.
They visited often, continuing to get together even after Elvis' passing.
Mackey had never known his own father, Tearsie Hargett, who was killed
in action in WWII, and he looked up to Vernon as almost a surrogate
father-figure. Mackey's admiration for Vernon was so strong that it
came time for him to do something in remembrance of Vernon Presley,
and that chance came to Mackey when a parcel of land in Fulton, Mississippi
came up for sale. A piece or that property once held the very house
where Vernon Presley was born on April 10, 1916, to Jessie D. Presley
and Minnie Mae Hood Presley.
Mackey offered to buy
the section of parcel where the home once stood and eventually
succeeded. Mackey then went a step further and sought to preserve
the parcel of land, as a tribute to Vernon Presley, and he put
in an order for a Mississippi State Historical Marker. The order
was accepted and the rest is history-~thanks to Mackey!
Cousin Mackey, you are one special person,
and you are to be commended for what you have done to commemorate
the father of Elvis Presley. Not much is actually spoken about
the extent of the struggles Vernon endured in younger days,
and a sad story, almost equal to that of his son, of love lost.
God Bless you, Mackey, and God Bless Vernon
Presley.
"Don't Close Your Doors
To Me" as sung by Vernon Presley
MDOT arrives to begin the process of installing the
marker
The Mississippi Historical marker is installed.
To the left is 5th District Supervisor of Itawamba County,
Ricky Johnson. To the right is Joel Hargett, Mackey's
son.
(click on photo to enlarge)
Mackey and the sign installed by the Itawamba County
Historical Society
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 remembers
Vernon 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 17 June 1933, the Lee County Town Hall, oldest building in Lee
County. Gladys and Vernon had eloped as neither family had approved
of this marriage.
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 and Mary Etta Smith Stonebraker 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.
Vernon Elvis Presley - 1916 - 1979
This is one of the last photos taken
of Vernon Presley, only months before he died on June 26, 1979. This
is the last time Mackey saw Vernon. The photo was taken by Vernon's
girlfriend at the time, Sandy Miller, and the year was 1978.
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