Interview with Donna Presley - Part 1
February 28, 2003

Andrzej Lipczynski: Hello Donna, first may I thank you for graciously accepting my invitation to speak about your perhaps unique insights into Elvis as a famous entertainer, and also as a man who kept himself near to close relatives such as your mother, and your uncle Vernon, his father. Interviews by their very nature can be often hard work for those involved yet I feel in my bones this one may prove to be both informative and a real pleasure for the many visitors from all around the world who visit my website.

Andrzej: Now Donna, may I first ask you what were your most important memories of spending time with Elvis at Graceland as a child, and teenager?

Donna: Wow Great Question , I would have to say that each memory holds it's very own special place in my heart now. Of course at the time Elvis was alive, It was simply like any other family, Well maybe not like every family. We lived on the Graceland Grounds, Just behind the main house where Elvis lived and when Elvis was home, You never knew what to expect. It was very exciteing because Elvis loved to surprise people. But I have to say that the most important time to me was the times that I spent one on one time with Elvis. He always had nick names for people he cared about, He called me "Little Donnie" instead of Donna or "Blue Eyes". 

When I was eighteen Elvis set down in front of me in my Grandmothers room in Graceland and he was asking me what I wanted to do with my life after I finished school. I told him that I wanted to become a model, And I will always remember what Elvis said to me. He reached over and took my hands and looked into my eyes and said "Donnie your a beautiful young girl and never let anyone tell you that you can not make your dreams come true, Because I'm a living example that YOU CAN". Elvis said they had told him to go back to driving a truck and that he could not sing, But he never gave up on his dream and that I should never give up on mine. Elvis ended by saying that if he could ever help me along the way that he was there for me. 
I can't tell you how much they meant to me at that time in my life hearing those words from Elvis. That was just the way Elvis was a, Very Loving and Very Careing warm man. 


Andrzej: Thank You Donna, truly a heartwarming time for you and your sister Susie. Now would you please tell us all why your book, "Elvis-Precious Memories", was written, you must be delighted it has met with such international acclaim? My copy is treasured!

Donna: Thank You Andrzej ......."Elvis Precious Memories" was a dream of my dear mother Nash Presley. She wanted the world to know the real Elvis, The man we knew and loved. There have been so many bad things written about Elvis and my family, It was time to tell the world the truth about this man that gave so much of himself to not only his family and friends, But The World. 

Elvis was human as we all are and he made mistakes as we all do, However Elvis never hurt anyone but himself with the mistakes in his life, Now how many people in that line of buisness can say that today? Not Many I can a sure you of that. There are over six hundred Elvis Fan Clubs around the world today that represent millions of people from all walks of life that were touched by Elvis Presley in some way, Many of these fans were not even born at the time Elvis died, That says a great deal about my first cousin Elvis Presley and that is the reason we as a family wrote Elvis Precious Memories, So that the reader would know Elvis as we knew him. 


Andrzej: Now Donna, we recall Elvis and Pricilla's wedding in 1968, how did the Presley family in general greet the news, and have you any special stories of the time?

Donna: Priscilla is four years older than I am, However we became great friends as young girls together. She went to a Catholic School in Memphis and I was an Assembly Of God Faith, I would take her to my church and I would go with her to the Catholic Church, Both were very different of course but we enjoyed each others friendship. I will never forget Priscilla was a custom to going to Fair Grounds in Memphis with Elvis and riding everything, And I wasn't so needless to say, Pricilla thought it was very funny when many of the rides made me very sick. Some how at the time it wasn't much fun for me. When I look back on those times now it seems as if it were a dream or something in another life time. We as a family all loved Priscilla and we were extremely pleased to see the day arrive that She and Elvis would be married and we were all sad the day there marriage ended, However there love for each other continued long after there divorce and they remained in close contact with each other untill the day Elvis died.


Andrzej: Thank you very much Donna it has been a great pleasure for me to interview such a close and beautiful relative of the legendary Elvis Presley. 

Interview with Donna Presley - Part 2