“Elvis Presley was a way of life for us. When we were born, our daddy worked for Elvis. We grew up knowing and loving Elvis. Our dad is Billy Smith. He grew up with Elvis and was always close to him. Daddy and Elvis were first cousins. Daddy has told us some great stories about those days when money and jobs were scarce. Once they had to eat turnip greens for a week because one of their distant cousins stole the money they had saved to come to Memphis on. He also stole our Grandpa Smith’s new pair of socks at the same time. Daddy said Paw Smith was madder over the socks!
Daddy, his brother Bobby, his daddy, Travis and Mother Lorraine all came to Memphis with Elvis, his mother and father. They all lived in the same apartment building. It’s hard for us to imagine Elvis in poverty. All we ever knew was Graceland and luxury! But Elvis was always a down to earth person. He was a very fun loving, friendly man. He was always our idol. We used to play “Elvis and the Bodyguards.” We always got in a fight over who was Elvis.
We lived at Graceland and it was paradise. When our mother and dad were on tour with Elvis we usually stayed with our aunts or our mother’s parents would come to Graceland to stay with us until the tour was over. It was always so exciting for us! We used to slip one of Elvis’ cigars from the box that he kept at our trailer and go outside to the guard house. The back gate was right by our trailer and Ossie Nicholson was the guard at night. He was great! Ossie would let us get in the jeep and ride. We played like we were coming in from the movies or racquetball. We loved it. We usually ended up in a fight over who was Elvis and Ossie would put us out until we straightened up.
Graceland was a little over thirteen acres and Elvis had told us we could play all over. We loved it! He had a big barn in the back and horses and there were peacocks there. There was always plenty of excitement when Elvis was at home. Daddy had worked and traveled with Elvis since he was in high school, so we were always around Elvis. It was thrilling for us, just as it was all his many fans.
We went to Graceland every Christmas Eve for a party and to take Elvis his present. He was always as excited as we were. He would tear into his presents and laugh that big laugh he had and throw his head back. He made you happy just being around him. He would come downstairs and hand Out gifts and money to his friends and family.
Elvis loved Christmas time. You could just see the excitement in his eyes. All us kids would just wait to see him as he walked down the steps. He looked like a king to us. All the guys that worked for Elvis and their families would always gather at Graceland and spend the evening together. We would sometimes stay until daylight the next morning. Elvis always wanted my dad to stay as long as we could.
Elvis was close to his family. Sometimes some of our other cousins would be there and we would slip into the punch while the grown-ups were busy talking or doing something else. One Christmas we got in the punch and by the time it was time to go we had to be carried out! We learned a lesson from that. Elvis laughed at us!
I think what impressed us most about Elvis was that he loved to play, and he included everyone. He would let us ride on the golf cart with him and it thrilled us to death! Once Elvis wanted Mama and Daddy to go to Palm Springs with him. Mama didn’t want to leave us at home because they had just gotten home from a tour. We came in the trailer and we had a friend with us. I heard her talking to Elvis on the phone. When she hung up she came in and said, “We are going to Palm Springs.” We told Mama that we had already asked someone to stay overnight with us. “Well, if you don’t want to go to Palm Springs, Okay,”
“You mean we get to go too!!” Elvis had decided to take Lisa and he asked us to go to keep her company. We were so excited about the trip, it only took us a few minutes to pack! We were leaving within the hour! That’s the way Elvis was, a right now kind of man! We loved it! We rode with Elvis in his limo. Boy, we felt like a million dollars! He knew it too. He kept smiling all the way to the airport.
As we approached the airport we could see the “Lisa Marie” waiting for us. It was out of sight!! We had seen the plane and been on board, but we had never flown on it. It was beautiful, just what you would expect Elvis to own! He picked out all the colors for the inside and put his own personal touches to it. After we took off, Elvis took us in the cockpit and explained how it was flown. He kept pointing at different things with a cane that he was carrying. He always dressed so sharp! He then took us back to his room and showed us his quarters. It was like a house in the sky! He used to say it was his home in the sky. He would laugh when our eyes got big every time he showed us something else. Then he asked if we wanted to watch some movies and have something to eat.
“Don’t just sit, walk around, make yourselves comfortable. That’s what it is all for. Enjoy it kids!” Elvis told us, and we did. We thought we were dreaming.
When we got to Palm Springs it was already over in the morning. Elvis made sure that we were in the car that he was in. We went to his house on Chino Canyon Rd. Elvis pointed out everything to us as we went in. He shined his flashlight on the rocks and boulders in the yard and said, “I had these painted green to look like grass. It makes it a lot cooler in this sun. He thought of everything!!
Palm Springs was very hot. Mama, Daddy, Al, and all the kids stayed at the house with Elvis. The other guys stayed at a nearby hotel. We all finally got to bed but we were up extremely early exploring everything. We ate breakfast and then straight to the pool! Lisa could swim like a fish. She had brought a little friend with her and we all stayed in the pool most of the time. Elvis would come over to the window or to the door to watch us. One day he let us go for a ride in his dune buggy. Dick Grob took us for a ride in the dune buggy and it is one we will never forget! We jumped sand dunes and everything. Elvis bought basket balls and different games for us to play while we were there. One morning Elvis wanted to go to Los Angeles for a shopping spree. He left Lisa with Mama. He also left his Gun and $400.00. The money was to take the kids shopping for toys. We Went to a toy store. Lisa picked out a lot of Barbie stuff and we got boats to play in the pool. We couldn’t wait to get back to the pool to play with them. The whole time we were in Palm Springs we never wanted to leave the house and pool. Elvis made sure we had a good time. He always liked to see everyone happy.
We spent many happy times with him but we will tell you about the last two weeks of his life. Elvis seemed to want to do everything he could to have fun. He decided to take the kids along, too, which he didn’t do too often if it was going to be real late and, as you know most of the time he did things very late. Well, Lisa was home and Elvis was spending a lot of time with her. He had decided to go to Libertyland, an amusement park in Memphis where Elvis used to spend a lot of time. He took us to the movies with him, too, and as you know he went at about twelve at night and sometimes later. We rode with him in the Stutz Black Hawk. That car was beautiful. The ride there was as thrilling as any ride they had at the amusement park. Elvis drove, of course. He didn’t believe in stop lights. And he could have been a number one race car driver!! We had heard only stories about these places from our parents for years and now we understand what they were talking about!
Elvis was truly a legend. We will never forget him or his kindness to us. Our only regret is that Elvis is not with us now. We have heard rumors and comments and read books about what Elvis did or didn’t do. But you know we don’t pay that much attention to the gossip and bad things we hear. We choose to remember him like he really was. We were lucky enough to know him and he loved us, as we did him. Elvis was family to us, our idol, and our friend. He was a great man!!!”