“10 AM Memphis TN, Tuesday August 16, 1977”

This was a very sad story to write. Saying goodbye to our hero Elvis.


It's mid-morning around 10am or so and Graceland is fairly quiet. The upper floor is certainly still with one of the world's most famous persons in the bathroom adjoining the master bedroom. Occupying Elvis' oversized bed and fast asleep is Ginger Alden, the King's current girlfriend. Downstairs is also quiet even though Grandma Dodger and Aunt Delta may be up. Although Elvis' bedroom is soundproofed no one dares to take any chances on waking Elvis Presley. Elvis needs all his rest for the upcoming tour which will begin tomorrow in Portland ME and finish with two shows at the Mid-South Coliseum here in Memphis.

Just outside the walls of Graceland, Elvis' Uncle Vester is conducting his daily business and I do mean business. You see, everyday Vester takes a group of fans, maybe four or five, up to the front of the house in the yellow jeep that the gate guards use. Vester parks the jeep right outside the front door of the mansion and lets the fans have a look at Elvis' home. No one gets out of course. Vester has to be cautious today because the owner of the house is home, yes that would be Elvis, and there is always the chance Elvis could come out, although extremely unlikely. Vester then gets to selling his wares, three by five snapshots of his famous nephew in concert, which the fans gobble up at a buck apiece.

I imagine Vester could have been taking in maybe close to a thousand a week in sales. Not bad for a dirt farmer from Mississippi. Occasionally Elvis' dad Vernon would find out and make Vester stop. Vester would cool it for a week or so and then return to his picture selling. That morning of the 16th the fans in the jeep must have thought, "my God, just beyond those walls and a flight up is Elvis Himselvis." Vester says, "well, time to take this bunch down and pick up another." The day promises to be a hot one as by 10am it is already 90 degrees.

Elvis never has to worry about the heat. He goes from air to air all the time, except for the few steps from the house to the limo or from the limo to the plane, from the plane to the limo and from the limo to the hotel. The guard house is air conditioned and we, my brother and I, would hang out there to escape the heat but being in our twenties the heat didn't have that much effect. Having left Memphis to come home to Philly we had been back about a week by the morning of the sixteenth.

Although we weren't usually at Graceland at ten am, I can imagine sort of what it was like. See we got to the gate around 4 or 5pm and left around 4 or 5 am or later if Elvis was home. When Elvis hit the sack is when we followed suit, trying to be at the gate during his waking hours for a better chance to catch him. At 10am the birds in the big pin oak trees would be chirping with the torrid Memphis sun beginning to climb high. Besides Vester doing his thing and the birds doing their's, there is a certain stillness in the air. Who could know that in a just a few hours what transcends behind those stone walls will make news throughout the entire world?

Joe Esposito, Elvis' business manager, arrives around noon. Joe takes care of a lot of the travel arrangements and other stuff. Elvis pays Joe well for without Joe, the Elvis Presley Show could be in trouble. It is noon and Joe probably checks over any last minute details. Elvis bodyguard Al Strada is present, probably watching TV in the den. Back in Philly I'm out in the streets of the City of Brotherly Love (we are only fourth in murders) driving a cab to make a few quick bucks to return to Memphis. My brother chucked the cab job after two days and is slumbering in the cool air condition of our room. My mom, a big Elvis fan, is finishing her second cup of coffee and is going through her daily routine. The rest of the world is going about their business but in a few short hours everyone's lives on the planet will be halted and changed, if even for a moment, with the news that will come from the tranquility of a quiet Memphis afternoon.

It is now approaching 1 pm in Memphis and the pace at Graceland quickens just a bit. Lisa Marie is playing and Joe and Al are planning the day's schedule as best they can. Musicians and others are en route from California and other places, bound for Portland ME. Everything must be ready for Elvis and the show to go on properly, without a hitch. Everyone is on a tight schedule, that is almost everyone. Everyone of course but the King. It is Elvis who decides when he will get up and what time the party will leave Memphis Aero. Everyone from the gophers to the pilot, Milo High, is on standby waiting for word from the Boss. Departure may be at 8pm, l0pm or midnight. It all depends on Elvis.

This will be the first show that Elvis will perform since the nasty tell-all book by Elvis' three former bodyguards. Why they would do this is beyond Elvis' imagination and the rest of us as well. So much for loyalty. Elvis' dad Vernon called them disgruntled ex-employees. Elvis is deeply concerned at how the fans will take this? No one can ever tell for sure but I would guess that there would be a few cat calls but that the majority of the fans would react as they always did, with awe and adulation. For what Elvis has built up with his rise from nowhere to stardom in the 1950's, his career as Rock and Roll's "only" movie star and his comeback onstage performances have made him such a legendary performer that no two-bit trash book could ever tear down. I think Elvis would have weathered this storm as he did others throughout his career.

It is 3 o'clock in Philly and I'm still hustling out on the streets. Soon it will be quitting time and a cold beer should be waiting for me back home. It is 2 o'clock in Memphis and the phone rings in the kitchen. Could this little innocent ringing actually start a chain reaction that will be heard around the world? A simple little phone call in a simple little southern kitchen on a nondescript Memphis summer day? The maid answers and quickly hands the phone to Joe Esposito. A frantic Ginger Alden is on the other end. Her panicked voice tells Joe something he definitely does not wish to hear and that is that Elvis has fainted and is on the bathroom floor. Joe slams down the phone and calls out to Al as they both sprint for the staircase. They immediately rush into the bathroom. They find Elvis on his knees and realize right away this is much more than fainting. The Fire Department is called immediately and an ambulance is dispatched. They are told someone has trouble breathing but not that it is Elvis. Telling them it was Elvis could possibly delay them for Elvis' fame is so immense that there is no telling what people might do?

Joe and Al use whatever medical knowledge they have to try to assist Elvis. Dr. Nick is called and someone calls the back office and Vernon comes running up the stairs. Little Lisa hears the commotion and tries to get in the bathroom. Hollering and screaming break the silence in the once solitary mansion and soon pandemonium takes place with people running everywhere.

Uncle Vester is told that an ambulance is on its way and to keep the gates open and the fans clear of the drive. Uncle Vester also is not told who the ambulance is for because with Elvis’ fame there is no telling how or what the EMT’s may do? In just a few short hours, when the fans find out, there will be thousands gathered outside of the Music gates. The death of the country boy from Tupelo MS who made it big is broadcast around the world. People in Europe, Asia, India and Africa pause to remember the "King of Rock n' Roll." Many who were alive at the time compare the shocking death of Elvis to the assassination of President Kennedy fourteen years earlier in 1963.

Meanwhile some 900 miles to the northeast I'm just finishing up my day and bringing my cab back to the garage at 34th and Grays Avenue in west Philly. It was a hot, rough day but it will all be worthwhile when I get enough money to get back to good ole Memphis. None of my passengers mentioned anything to me at all. Didn't they know? I was told to call my neighbor Dolores but no reason was given by the office manager. It was 6:30 pm. The first thing I asked Dolores was if my mom was alright? She said mom was okay but then said, " I don't know if you heard Larry, but Elvis passed away this afternoon." Shocked isn't the word because I never thought I would hear those two words, Elvis and died, put together. Elvis was so much larger than life that death for Elvis just didn't seem possible for at least another thirty years or so. What the world knew for the last three hours, I was just finding out. Maybe God was trying to hold off this dreaded news for me as long as possible.

Losing Elvis was one of the worst days of my life and all of our lives. There would be no more trips to Charlotte, NC or College Park MD, or Pittsburgh PA or anywhere else to see an Elvis concert again. No more seeing the King walk out on the stage with that greatest of all smiles. No more hearing that incredible voice hitting notes like Pavarotti. No more seeing Elvis drive in and out of the Music gates or a surprise early morning stop in a nearby gas station. It was over.

The calm and serenity of that peaceful August 16th morning was now replaced by sorrow and hysteria. Just a few hours before, Uncle Vester had visitors in his jeep just outside of the mansion's walls. Little did they or anyone else know of the "unexpected" visitor who had just arrived. That unexpected visitor was the "Angel of Death", who had come to take Elvis Aron Presley back home, sometime around 10am, in the quiet of the morning, Tuesday, August the 16th, 1977.
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copyrighted story by Larry Blong