1968

Lisa Marie Presley died yesterday. She was born in 1968 and was 54 years old.  My daughter Cherish was born in 1968 and is 54.

I was 18 when my daughter came into the world. She entered into life in an unassuming way. Her Mom went into labor around 8:00 in the morning. Cherish was born around noon and I was home eating supper by 5:00. To say her birth had a profound impact on my life would underestimate the gravity of the times.

1968 became a pivotal year in America as a whole. President Johnson began the year thinking he would run for his third term in office and was defeated in his own early primary elections subsequently withdrawing his name from nomination by summer. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April and Bobby Kennedy in June. The Tet offensive in Vietnam in February showed the American army that the war was far from won.   Closer to home I dropped out of college to support my family which inadvertently made me eligible for the draft. Long hair on men and unkempt appearance ruled the fashion scene. The world as I knew it growing up, had ceased to exist. The idyllic lifestyle that I come to expect as a birthright was disappearing. Psychedelic drugs were being used in many social settings and the connections between parents and children were being broken with reckless abandon.

It was into this world that Elvis Presley and I brought babies. Pricilla said that upon Elvis’ first sight of Lisa Marie he gushed “I can’t believe I was a part of making something this beautiful.” I couldn’t have said that any better, Mr. Presley. That was exactly how I felt.  There is something special about your firstborn child. Some inexplicable bond that will always be there. So here we were, Elvis and I with our firstborn children and they were daughters to boot. He had fame and fortune but was short on family in that his mother had passed away and he had no siblings. I didn’t have fame or fortune, but I had family. Cherish was the first grandchild that had leafed out on our branch of the family tree, and my mother was thrilled. She had just recently had her own first daughter in 1964. Into this nest of love Cherish fell. It would be this way for the rest of my mom’s life. There was always something special about this first grandbaby.

The times were the problem. It was 1968 and the world had gone haywire. The “Summer of Love ” in 1967 had spawned a summer of drug use in 1968. Richard Nixon had been elected President and began his role of deceit and duplicity in our government. The Vietnam War was increasingly eating our male youth. Even my church, the Evangelical United Brethren, was absorbed by the much larger United Methodist denomination and our doctrine began to be altered. It seemed that everywhere I turned, change was on the march. From my smalltown view, all of this change was unsettling. I had already pushed my philosophical view of life to the edge of understanding. I wanted what everyone wants for their children, security, prosperity and happiness. How was this to be?

Two days before Cherish turned one, I left for the U.S Army having been snagged by the draft laws in our country at the time.  I was heartbroken, I had no control over my daughter’s life. My hopes and dreams and aspirations had disappeared into a blur of discipline and protocol. I knew I was going to Vietnam and was incapable of effecting any other outcome. By December I was on the other side of the world from my daughter and my family. I wrote to her as often as possible but was not there to watch her grow. In the meantime, my Mom & Dad absorbed my family into theirs. Cherish was safe and in a loving safe environment.

I made it back home in time for Cherish’s second birthday. We bought a pizza, put two candles on it, and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. We then loaded her up in the back of a VW and headed for Seatle Washington, my next duty assignment. For the next several years it was my habit to brush her hair and sing to her before she went to bed at night. I was content to watch this beautiful child embrace life.

Elvis died when Lisa Marie was 9 years old. One of life’s mysteries, why some people get to watch their children grow up and some don’t. Now Lisa Marie is gone. It appears that her life was an emotional roller coaster. Maybe she and her Dad can now have the life they always longed for.

As for Cherish and I, we are still bumping down the road of life. She is still as beautiful as the first time I saw her. She has assumed the role of Grandmother Extraordinaire in her family. She has a very deep spiritual compass and enjoys a loving and secure environment. She is everything I hoped she would become.

Thank you, God, for letting me hang around to be a part of her life!