IN MEMORIAM: Papa Joe, aka; Elvis Aaron Presley
Papa Joe, aka; Elvis Aaron Presley
Many of you knew my husband as Papa Joe. I met him as Elvis. He had so many names, he almost forgot his real name. He always signed his name as Elvis Aaron Presley, even for autographs.
When we met, he said, “You have to come back”, and gave me his phone number. When I saw him again, he invited me to Billy McHale’s and listen to him sing. Then he invited me for coffee at his house and played the guitar for me, the song, Angel. He took his ring off his finger, got down on his knees, asked me to marry him. I said, “Yes” and he got so excited. We were together from then on. One morning he said, “We are going to get married today.” So we did. The man who married us was an old troubadour and he played the Hawaiian wedding song on a grand piano. It was beautiful. Everyone always commented about how happy we were.
I’d waited my whole life for the right person, my perfect compliment, had finally found him, and then on September 28, 2009 it all ended. On his last night alive, he sang to me all night long, telling me, “I love you baby”. I woke to find that God had carried him off to heaven.
Elvis was the most giving man I’d ever met. Many people have gifts from him. He always thought of others.
He loved to make others happy by singing a song. He would tell me, “Look at that sad lady, I am going to make her smile.” Then he would go up to her and start to sing, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and then say, “See? She smiled.” He was the original singer of the song, “Sixteen Candles.”
Kelly, the bartender at Diamond Jim’s, was a dear friend. He told me she approved of me when I met him at Diamond Jim’s. The girls all loved him. I think everyone was surprised that we hit it off so well. He heard me sing and he told me he loved my singing. I sang “Love Can Build a Bridge”. He told me later, “If a girl could sing a song like that, it is possible she would stand by her man forever.”
Papa Joe could make you laugh. His humor was so grand. If something bothered him, he would make it humorous.
Last year, he won a trip to Las Vegas in March, and asked me to change it to May, so
we could celebrate my birthday and Mother’s Day in Vegas. We went to see an Elvis impersonator who told him that he should be signing the autographs. He had known Elvis. At least a thousand people took his picture. They would walk up to him and drop on their knees and cry, asking to take his picture. They would say to him, “I knew you weren’t dead.” He loved it. That trip was the highlight of our time together.
This was a man who knew how to love. His love for God came first in his life. I came second. He loved church and he loved to go to church.
He also loved my sons, James and Solomon, accepting them as his own. Solomon’s friend also loved him and called him Elvis. He set up a studio, played the guitar and sang for them.
The world lost a great musician, friend, husband. There will never be another Elvis Aaron Presley, Papa Joe, Country Joe, Blue Mountain Boy, etc. He will be missed by so many of those friends and fans who loved him. No more Elvis sightings. He has truly left the building. God is smiling, and Elvis, I believe, is directing the choir in heaven.
