Jane Gowen is actually 18 yrs . old whenever she got a hug from Elvis shortly after meeting his train in the Memphis while in the a good stopover with the their way to the newest eastern coastline and you may Army obligations overseas within the Germany.
Jane Wilbanks dated Elvis to own 10 days while he was stationed during the Germany and spent Christmas, New-year, and his 24th birthday towards the Queen out-of Rock-‘n’-roll.
Gowen told you Elvis is very funny and smart, however, are sad along side latest death of their mother and you will alarmed he perform score fat and therefore people perform skip him.
In the event the instruct eliminated, she appeared upwards, and there he had been. She had on the a light leather-jacket and you may stood call at the group.
“Which is as i indeed met your,” Gowen, just who resides in Hernando, said through the a telephone interview. “The guy considered George Klein, ‘Are she to you?’ And he said, ‘no, I simply satisfied their particular.’ They made me through to this new illustrate in which he kissed me personally from time to time.”
Gowen said all of the she you’ll gather to state are “I am Jane Davis Wilbanks. I am out of The brand new Albany.” She recalls Elvis informing their unique “I won’t ignore your” due to the fact their illustrate taken out.
At route, she watched Elvis’s close friends George Klein and you can Alan Fortas and you can knew which had been the location to-be
The latest kiss is seized on film when you look at the a now greatest picture taken of the a standing photography about Commercial Desire and you may checked in the press and you can Elvis lover guides global given that “girl just who kissed Elvis so long.”
One was not the very first time that she discovered Elvis. Gowen told you she first watched Elvis whenever she was a student in good skill reveal during the Middle-South Fair. The guy hadn’t yet , come their meteoric ascend to help you as the fresh new earth’s most famous Rock ‘n’ roll celebrity. She told you Elvis welcome their unique so you can journey the fresh Zippin Pippin rollercoaster having your, however, she turned into your off.
“He had been genuine amicable and you can questioned us to drive new Pippin,” Gowen told you. “I did not for example roller coasters, thus i said no. Whenever i got house I called your Ellis Prellis. We hardly knew just who he had been.
“We knew the fresh new Blackwood Brothers in addition to their spouses,” Gowen said. “I found myself backstage and additionally they entitled your more. He’d a date and you can is winking in the me. He told you ‘In my opinion you’re Jane Wilbanks.’”
About three weeks once kissing your on stop, Gowen told you George Klein named their own and you may asserted that Elvis desired her to enter in order to him in Germany. Thus she performed. Elvis titled their particular from the 5 times away from Germany assuming he found out of their particular mommy you to she are going-over to help you Germany to call home along with her buddy, Capt. J.P. Kirkland, Jr., who had been an armed forces chaplain, he informed her to appear him up when she got here.
The guy showed up more plus one of these brought myself
Elvis named their unique into the Germany and questioned their unique to invest Christmas time with your at their lodge where he had been traditions off base in the Crappy Nauheim. Elvis’s father, Vernon, and buddy Lamar Fike, chose her up when you look at the good Mercedes. She recalls you to Elvis is actually dressed in an effective striped coat having good velvet neckband and you can try playing ideas throughout the background. He met her which have a shy grin and you may passed their unique an effective nothing package that had been wrapped. Inside is a gold ring made in Germany with an effective turquoise inside it.
They decided to go to a party a short while later at a military captain’s house where Elvis seated off within cello and you will done music. After that, Gowen said it drove within the snow-covered picturesque streets off the new German village in which Elvis chatted about his mom, that has died into August, and exactly how much the guy missed their own.
