[Ingrid]

Hello everybody,

I´m born in 77 and grew up with Elvis´music, but I did´t know much about him until I started "doing research" last year. Instinctively I always knew he was special...

I´ve read good and bad books and quickly found the girls to be the more reliable sources than the guys who Wanda so lovingly calls the Memphis Monkeys .

Anyway, Jeanne LeMay spent a lot of time with Linda and Elvis, even worked in the office at Graceland for Vernon for a while. She wrote a little book about the time (Elvis, Linda and me) and I would like to share an excerpt, showing Elvis´love for Lisa. Enjoy!



...

I [Jeanne] also taught her [Lisa] the fine art of eating a banana and peanut butter together. Elvis had mentioned to me one day that he was worried she was not eating enough nutritious foods and was instead snacking on sweets and snacks. So I said, "Lisa, let me show you one of my favorite ways to eat bananas and peanut butter." I showed her how to take a peeled banana and, using a knife, spread a little dab of the peanut butter on the end and then eat it. She seemed to really get into that and Elvis was impressed that she was eating something good for her for a change and was actually having fun doing it.

Several days later, Lisa and I were sitting at the table in the dining room. One of the maids had placed a bowl of soup and some crackers in front of her for lunch, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was not very interested in what was sitting in front of her. I knew she was instead probably thinking about what sweets might be in the kitchen. I said to her, "I´m going to tell you a story," and I began singing and humming the story of Goldilocks that I´d learned as a little girl. Lisa´s eyes got real big as I got to the exciting part, and suddenly I stopped.

"Why´d you stop, Jeanne?" she asked.

"Well," I said, "I can´t continue until you start eating your soup and crackers."

That was all it took, and she was digging into the soup as I continued to tell the story. She finished the entire bowl of soup just so she could hear the end of the story. The maid walked by and whispered, " I don´t know how you got her to eat that soup. She never has finished it before."

I didn´t think much about it until later that day when I was upstairs in Lisa´s bathroom packing my things, getting ready to fly back home. Linda walked in and laid three crisp one hundred dollar bills down on the counter in front of me and smiled.

"What is that for?" I asked.

"Well, Elvis heard what you did for Lisa today, how you got her to eat her soup and crackers, and he wants you to stay on a few more days. He knows you´re not getting paid while you´re here, and so he thought this might entice you to stay a little longer. He´s really appreciative of how you´re helping with Lisa. Plus, I think Lisa wants you to stay, as well."



Luckily Memphis experienced a freak ice storm and they closed the airport, and that was my excuse, when I called my boss, why i couldn´t make it back to Rhode Island as originally scheduled.

That night we were all sitting around in the living room when Elvis told Lisa it was time for her to go to bed.

"Oh daddy, I don´t want to go to bed yet. Can´t I just stay up a little more? Please?"

"No, sweet darlin´," he said, "I promised your mother I´d get you to bed at a decent hour. You don´t wat me getting in trouble with her, do you?"

"No, I guess not," she slowly said. "But can you sing for me a song before I go to bed?"

"Okay, honey," Elvis answered. "Should we let Jeanne watch us say our prayers first?"

"Yessss," she squealed in delight, and then, looking at me, she said, "Come on, let´s go upstairs to my bedroom."

She ran over and grabbed my hand and the two of us, along with Elvis and Linda, headed up to her bedroom. She was already in her cute little pajama, and she and Elvis got down on their knees by the side of the bed. I would have given everything I owned to have had my camera then, but I didn´t. That was one of the most precious sights I´ve ever seen in my life. There were the two of them saying a little prayer together, one they´d obviously said a million times before. It looked like a Norman Rockwell painting with the two of them against the bed and the dim light of a single lamp bathing them in soft light.

Linda and I stood by he doorway, letting the two of them have their special moment together. Then Elvis helped Lisa up into her bed and tucked her in. Before leaving, he honored his promise to sing her a song. I don´t remember what the song was, but I´m pretty sure it was a lullaby. I recall being completely enthralled at the sight unfolding before me as Elvis Presley sang his daughter a song in her bedroom at Graceland that night. And I was fortunate enough to be standing there watching. Not too many other people can ever say they did that. Lisa was the most adorable little girl, and I felt grateful being a part of it.

...





Remarkable, right? Taking care of everybody, including his girlfriend´s best friend.







Ingrid

[Wanda June Hill]

Yes he was and all of them were very fortunate to have Linda's friend there to "paste" the parts together and help make them work. I wish he could have married Linda, and been happy with a big family. It was too much for her and for him to deal with-he always looked happy and seemed to be doing better with Linda there looking after him. He was the kind of guy who needed looking after-that is for sure. People born later in time now days, seem to be more the "isolationist" type-they like having friends, but they don't cling as much and they seem more interested in things and getting things for themselves and maybe their family if they have one, and I think that is because the world is changing so much, everything is throw away now days, even people it seems. Kind of scary in many ways, yet maybe not, maybe we would be too shattered at losing closeness if it were the main thing of today. It's hard to be close when so much is split second with all the tech stuff we have. Things happen so fast in movies, on television and now with humans too. Weirder and more every day. I can't say I would like to go back to the old days and the old ways entirely, but somethings I do miss. wjh
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Wanda June Hill
author of "We Remember, Elvis" & "Elvis - Face to Face"

[Ingrid]

Good morning Wanda & everyone,

your so right on everything becoming weirder, and faster, and people becoming more isolated and self-centered all the time.

Elvis quickly became a role model for me, caring for everyone like he did.

Having worked crazy hours as a product manager with a ton of extra shifts every week and no pay for those, it was really difficult for me to keep up with friends and family sometimes. I loved my job, but our (business) world today really puts a lot of pressure on you and you get taught at a very early age that actually your job and carreer comes first, then family. I didn´t think of having kids until just recently, turning 30 last year and getting second thaughts on my priorities in life.

I would never sacrifice my marriage for a job though, so I quit in 2006 and am my own boss now. People wonder why their relationships don´t work out, but it really is a question of priorities. I´m actually the only one of my girlfriends who is married... to a great guy who I´ve been with for 9 years now.

But I was lucky and ran into someone who is 100 % compatible to me.

I also think Linda was great and although she was so young she managed to keep Elvis happy, at least for a while. He truely required "special care", though as a matter of fact every guy I ever knew loved to be babied! And some deserved it, some not .

Elvis clearly belonged to the first category!!!

Ingrid

[MaryInTheMorning]

Thank you so much dear Ingrid for posting this great excerpt from Jeanne's book for us to enjoy!! I haven't had a chance to get her book yet but it's DEFINITELY on my list of "must haves". What a special moment to be a part of--Elvis and his little girl praying together and then listening to him sing her a lullaby. So tender, touching and precious. I so agree with what you said sweet Wanda about how lucky they all were to have Jeanne help "paste" the parts together and make them work. Also agree about how weird and almost "non communicative" in a person to person sense our world has become due to things being so high-tech nowadays and fast moving, etc.... In some ways I too wish that things could go back to the way they once were where it seemed like more people HONESTLY cared about one another just for the sake of caring rather than with the whole "what's in it for me" attitude that sadly seems to slowly be taking hold of our world. If only there were more people in today's world like Elvis, but then again him being one-of-a-kind "fer sure" is what him so special and what made him.........Elvis. You are so right in what you said dear Ingrid about Elvis deserving to be babied! He earned that and more most definitely.

[Amanda Viola]

I firmly believe evolution is taking humankind more in the direction Elvis expressed himself, that of loving and taking care of any living being near.

The actual ways are only signalling the end of an "era"... Most humans feel these ways are not in correspondence with what their hearts feel and need... Our TRUE nature is inside us and it's leading us to LOVE.
_________________
Amanda Viola

"LOVE is what it's all about".

[Blue Moon]

Thanks Ingrid for sharing this excerpt from Jeanne LeMay's book. I haven't yet gotten her book but it's another one on my wish list.
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Laurie

It behooves one to sense God as dwelling within each of us, rather than as some distant entity, far above and seemingly beyond our reach.

[maia]

Such a PRECIOUS story! Can't you imagine how Lisa must TREASURE these memories?

I put a YouTube that touches on this feeling on "Candlelight":

http://elviscandlelight.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1533375:Video:7602
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Maia Nartoomid, site administrator
http://www.elvislightedcandle.org

[Lighthouseseeker]

thanks indeed Ingrid..such heartwarming and so Elvis are those stories..
_________________

This is my quest
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause

[Rainbow Light]

Thank you, Ingrid for sharing this excerpt from Jeanne's book, fantastic and so touching and heartwarming! Very much appreciated!

Thanks also, Maia, for the link above!!
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Seeks to encourage and inspire!

[MaryInTheMorning]

What a great video dearest Maia! So very touching and moving. Thank you so much for posting the link here for us.

[Rainbow Light]

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Seeks to encourage and inspire!

[ALNA]

thanks Wanda for your nice and true comments about Linda.
Jeanne Lemay was indeed a good friend of both Linda and Elvis, seems to have been a great lady . Lisa loved visiting her daddy and to be taken care of by Linda and also by Jeanne....
Precious memories
_________________
A star burned too brightly, burned out too quickly and we were left with the afterglow which has never dimmed."

ELVIS - Did you ever know you were my hero

[Rainbow Light]

[ALNA]

the more I read those inside storys, the sadder I become when I see Graceland standing there. It is only a shelf of what it once was. A house so full of life and love , now a museum, tresspassed by hundreds every single day of its existence........

SAD
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A star burned too brightly, burned out too quickly and we were left with the afterglow which has never dimmed."

ELVIS - Did you ever know you were my hero

[Lindsaygirl]

Not a big fan of linda's but l'am glad that elvis got a couple laughs with her and lisa had someone there for her at graceland.
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