Elvis Story

Date With the King
By: Dr. Bonnie Libhart
During the mid 1950s I was teaching at a dance studio in Memphis, Tenn. One day a couple in my class asked me if I’d go with them to the airport. “We’re picking up Elvis Presley, and we’re supposed to bring him a date for the evening.”

My heart fluttered. What girl in the entire world could say no? I wondered. And what if he turned out to really like me? My mind danced with the possibilities. Then I remembered: I already had a date with Tony, a Marine Corps student who’d taken many lessons from me. He was tall, good-looking, churchgoing: all the things on my list for the perfect husband. Things had started to get serious with us. “You know what,” I said, “actually, I can’t. I have a date tonight.”

They couldn’t believe I’d turned them down. But Elvis hadn’t chosen me, they had. Tony, on the other hand, chose me to be his wife. That date with Elvis was the best one I never had.