Elvis had a very special relationship with his mother, Gladys. And she thought the world of Elvis. She raised him to have the confidence to be his own person and follow his own interests. Gladys was the nuturing element in Elvis' life that made him the unique individual he was and the King of Rock N Roll.



For his eleventh birthday, Gladys bought her son his first guitar. Elvis really wanted a bicycle, but the bike was more than the Presleys could afford. Beside it in the store's window was a guitar that was more in the price range. Gladys asked her son if he wouldn't rather have the guitar. Saying that it would help with his singing, and that everyone enjoyed hearing him sing.



Although she bought that first guitar, Gladys did not push her son to be a performer. She didn't like the traveling Elvis did in his career. She worried he might have a wreck on the highway or die in a plane crash. It is said she was "excessively neurotic when it came to Elvis's safety."



Elvis was devoted to his mother. It was his love for Gladys that first prompted him to visit Sun Records. As a birthday present to Gladys, Elvis cut a version of the "My Happiness". On the backside was "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". The studio manager, Marion Keisker, heard Elvis' unusual but distinctive vocal style and informed Sun's owner/producer Sam Phillips of his potential.



Gladys was torn by Elvis' success. Success meant his removal from her daily life. Elvis called his mother daily from the road. Gladys kept a scrapbook of all of Elvis' achievements. She wished Elvis were satisfied with less success. She even encouraging him to come home and take up a local business like a furniture store. Elvis wanted more. He consoled his mother and continued his phenomenal ascent. Elvis took care of his parents and freely shared all his financial wealth with them.



In August of 1958 Gladys Presley became ill and returned to Memphis. She was hospitalized with acute hepatitis. Elvis, serving in the Army at the time, was granted emergency leave and arrived in Memphis on the afternoon of August 12th. He visitd her that night, and the next day not leaving the hospital until sometime around midnight. A few hours after Elvis went home to Graceland for some rest Gladys died of liver disease. She was taken to Graceland that afternoon. Her services were at the Memphis Funeral Home on the 15th. Elvis had the Blackwood Brothers come to the funeral and sing "Precious Memories" and "Rock of Ages", two of Gladys Presley's favorite hymns. She was laid to rest at Forest Hill Cemetery, a few miles down the road from Graceland.



Elvis suffered the most overwhelming grief and despair of his life. He was devastated. At her funeral it is said, Elvis flung himself on her coffin and cried out inconsolably "Goodbye, darling, goodbye. I love you so much. You know how much I lived my whole life just for you." Bodyguards had to pry his hands off the coffin in order for it to be lowered. Elvis spent nine days alone in his room.




The famous 55 Pink Cadillac Elvis bought for his mother. She never drove it and Elvis never parted with it.



















Trivia Fact: Elvis's mother, Gladys, was so upset by the original ending of the film Love Me Tender (where Clint dies) that the studio called the actors back and made them shoot an extra scene. This had Elvis, superimposed over the graveyard scence, singing an extra verse of Love Me Tender




Gladys Presley is now buried at Graceland with Elvis and Vernon.

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