Inside Graceland: Elvis' Maid Remembers by Nancy Rooks Page B

that someday she’ll find the right person for her.

“LORD, PLEASE SAVE MY BOY!”  
    Au gust 16th, 1977, started out as just another hot summer
da y in Memphis. Elvis was about to begin another grueling concert tour, and the activity level around Graceland was building to reflect that. The size and complexity of his concerts had grown to the point where many hours and days of planning and coordination were needed to prepare for everyone’s departure.
    Elvis was a musical superstar. Though he had gained weight and, some fans were complaining, lost some of his enthusiasm, he was still adored by his numerous fans, and his concerts were still blockbuster, and usually sold out, events. His own generation never gave up on him, and there were now legions of new fans that had come to appreciate his unparalleled, legendary, on-stage performances.
    I, along with other domestic staff members, never had much out of the ordinary to do, other than our usual duties, but we could always sense the pressure and stress on Elvis and those around him as they prepared to go on the road for weeks at a time. An unbelievable amount of time, money, and hard work went into the planning and logistics of these massive events.
    When I got to work that Tuesday morning, I remember thinking that it was going to be another hot Memphis summer day. I had gotten to work early, I think about six a.m., and the heat and humidity had already started to build. An early morning light rain had failed to cool things down.
    Pauline told me when I first walked in that Elvis and Ginger were out back in the racquetball court playing with his cousin, Billy Smith, and Billy’s wife, Jo.
    I put my pocketbook up and, shortly after, Elvis came in through the back door. Billy and Ginger were with him, and I seem to remember that it was around 6:30. Elvis looked like he had been working up a little bit of a sweat.
    I asked him, “Mr. Elvis, can I fix you something to eat?”
    “No thanks, Nancy.” he replied, and then added, “I’m not hungry right now, but I’m really thirsty and would really like some ice water, and then all I want to do is get some sleep.”
    The three of them disappeared up the back stairway and I fixed him a glass of ice water, which Pauline then took upstairs to him.
    When she came back downstairs she said something that seemed a little odd to me. She said, “He practically grabbed the water out of my hand!”, which was not like him at all. I didn’t think any more about it at the time.
    Pauline then left, leaving me by myself for the day. One of the other cooks was supposed to have been on duty that day to help me but hadn’t shown up. Aunt Delta told me she would help me with the cleaning, but, since she didn’t like to cook, I knew I would be doing most of the work by myself.
    I went about my routine as usual. I had cleaned Mrs. Minnie’s room, then Aunt Delta’s, had dusted and straightened up the den and the living room downstairs. I had fixed Mrs. Minnie some lunch, had a quick cup of coffee with her, and she had then returned to her bedroom.
    Pauline informed me before leaving that morning that Elvis had had a very restless night, as was common on the days leading up to one of his tours. He and Ginger had gone out the night before, riding his motorcycle through the streets around Graceland, killing time and trying to take the stress of the upcoming tour off him.
    It was not at all unusual for him to be gone for hours at a time after dark, just riding all around the streets in and around Whitehaven. It was something he loved doing, in part, I think, because it offered him the rare opportunity to get out of the house without being recognized, and thus mobbed, by his ever present fans.
    He and Ginger had then returned to the house, sometime after ten o’clock.
    Elvis had hoped to rent a local theater to see one of his usual private screenings of a movie, I think it was “MacArthur”, but for some reason that had not worked