Jane Gowen are 18 years old whenever she got a hug from Elvis shortly after meeting his show from inside the Memphis throughout a great stopover on the his way to the brand new east shore and you may Armed forces obligation overseas when you look at the Germany.
Jane Wilbanks old Elvis for 10 weeks while he try stationed from inside the Germany and you may spent Christmas time, New-year, with his 24th birthday celebration with the King from Rock-’n’-roll.
Gowen told you Elvis is actually extremely funny and you may wise, however, was unfortunate along the present loss of his mom and you can concerned which he do score body weight and therefore the general public would ignore him.
If train eliminated, she searched right up, there he had been. She got toward a white leather jacket and you will stood in the competition.
“That is as i indeed fulfilled your,” Gowen, who stays in Hernando, said while in the a telephone interviews. “The guy believed to George Klein, ‘Was she with you?’ In which he told you, ‘zero, I recently met their unique.’ They made me up on the latest show in which he kissed myself from time to time.”
Gowen said all the she you can expect to muster to say was “I’m Jane Davis Wilbanks. I am off New Albany.” She remembers Elvis advising her “I won’t forget about your” as the his instruct taken out.
At the channel, she noticed Elvis’s close friends George Klein and you can Alan Fortas and you may know that has been the spot is
The brand new kiss are caught on the film inside a now greatest photo removed by a standing photos in the Commercial Appeal and you can searched for the click and you can Elvis fan magazines internationally as “girl who kissed Elvis goodbye.”
You to definitely wasn’t the very first time you to definitely she encountered Elvis. Gowen told you she basic spotted Elvis when she was in a good talent reveal from the Middle-Southern Reasonable. He hadn’t yet , started their meteoric climb so you’re able to as the newest earth’s most well-known Rock-’n’-roll star. She told you Elvis allowed their particular so you can trip this new Zippin Pippin rollercoaster with your, but she became your off.
“He was real amicable and you can expected me to drive the Pippin,” Gowen said. “I did not instance roller coasters, therefore i said no. When i had household I titled your Ellis Prellis. I scarcely knew just who he had been.
“We understood the newest Blackwood Brothers as well as their spouses,” Gowen told you. “I happened to be backstage in addition they called your more. He previously a romantic date and you will try winking at myself. The hollanda dili karД±sД±yla tanД±ЕџД±n guy said ‘In my opinion you are Jane Wilbanks.’”
Around three weeks just after kissing your during the place, Gowen said George Klein called their particular and you can asserted that Elvis wanted their particular to write so you can your from inside the Germany. So she performed. Elvis called their particular on five times off Germany and when he realized from their mom one to she are going over to Germany to reside along with her uncle, Capt. J.P. Kirkland, Jr., who was an army chaplain, the guy shared with her to appear him upwards when she got indeed there.
The guy appeared over and another ones brought me personally
Elvis titled her in the Germany and you will requested their own to invest Christmas time which have him at their hotel in which he was life style off base for the Crappy Nauheim. Elvis’s father, Vernon, and you may friend Lamar Fike, picked her up inside an effective Mercedes. She recalls one to Elvis is putting on an effective striped coat with a good velvet neckband and you may is actually enjoying facts on history. The guy greeted their with a bashful grin and you will passed their unique a good absolutely nothing container that were covered. To the is actually a gold ring manufactured in Germany which have a great turquoise inside it.
They went along to a party afterward on an army captain’s home in which Elvis seated down on cello and you may sang audio. Then, Gowen said they drove inside the snow covered scenic roadways from the brand new German village where Elvis discussed his mother, who’d died back in August, and just how much he skipped their particular.
