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Lisa Marie Presley memorialized at Graceland memorial service

January 23, 2023

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Lisa Marie Presley, singer, songwriter and daughter of Elvis Presley, was remembered at a Sunday funeral service as a loving mother and “old soul” who endured tragedy but persevered as a protector devoted to her father’s legacy as a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer and pop icon.

More than a thousand people gathered on the lawn of Graceland on a gray and cold Memphis morning to mourn the death and remember the life of Lisa Marie Presley, who died on January 12 after being transported to a hospital in California.

Some mourners held flowers as they waited for the service to begin under the tall trees on the lawn of Graceland, the Memphis home where Lisa Marie lived as a child with her father. The mansion, which belonged to Lisa Marie Presley, has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction that hundreds of thousands of fans visit every year to celebrate the life and music of Elvis, who died in 1977 aged 42 .

The South Memphis property was a place of sadness and dark memories on Sunday. The service began with the singing of “Amazing Grace” by Jason Clark & The Tennessee Mass Choir.

Mourners hold up photos of Lisa Marie Presley during a memorial service at Graceland.Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian via AP

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the love, compassion and support you have shown our family during this difficult time,” said a message from the Presley family written on the service’s program. “We will always be grateful.”

Among those who spoke during the service were Lisa Marie’s mother, actress Priscilla Presley; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; Jerry Schilling, a close friend of former Elvis manager and Lisa Presley; and former Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, who referred to Lisa Marie’s parents as Memphis’ royal couple and “led to the throne, keeper of the flame.”

In a soft voice, Priscilla Presley read a poem by one of Lisa Marie’s three daughters, Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood, titled ‘The Old Soul’, in which she calls her mother ‘an icon, a role model, a super -heroes for many people all over the world.”

“In 1968, she entered our world, born tired, fragile, but strong. She was delicate, but full of life,” Priscilla Presley read. “She always knew she wouldn’t be here too long. Childhood passes, with a glimpse of his green eye. She then started her own family.

After reading the poem, Priscilla Presley said, “Our hearts are broken. Lisa, we all love you.

Music punctuated the service. Billy Corgan, lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins, played acoustic guitar and sang “To Sheila”; Alanis Morissette sang “Rest”; Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses played piano and sang “November Rain”; and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet, one of the pioneer groups in gospel music, performed two songs.

After the service, mourners walked through the Graceland Meditation Garden, where Presley was laid to rest in an above-ground grave next to her son Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020, and alongside her grandparents and great-grandparents. Grandmother.

Wreaths and bouquets of red, white, yellow and pink flowers lined the walkway leading to the tomb and the tomb itself. Fans, some with tears in their eyes, walked slowly past the grave, stopping to pay their respects.

Jordan Clark, 25, traveled from Mobile, Alabama to attend the service. She called the ceremony special and heartwarming. Clark said Lisa Marie “has been through a lot” in her life and likened the service to the time of Elvis’ death, when “people came from all over.”

“She was born into the public, born into stardom. It’s hard for some people,” Clark said. “She handled it like a champ. I think.”

Lisa Marie was 9 years old when her father died. She was staying at Graceland at the time and would remember him kissing her for the last time.

After her father’s death, she became the sole heir to the Elvis Presley Trust, which – along with Elvis Presley Enterprises – managed Graceland and other assets until she sold her majority stake in 2005. She retained the property of the mansion itself, the 13 acres around it, and objects inside the house.

A representative for Elvis Presley Enterprises told The Associated Press that the mansion is in a trust that will benefit his children. Along with Harper, she is survived by two other daughters – Riley Keough and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood.

Riley Keough, an actor, did not speak during the service. Her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, read a statement in which Keough recalled her mother taking her for ice cream, bringing her tea sets from Cracker Barrel and leaving notes in her lunch box.

“Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my savagery, my tenacity,” Riley Keough said in the statement. “I am a product of your heart. »