A 12-Year-Old Girl’s Eight-Hour Car Chase to Get Elvis’s Photo at a Gas Station

On this episode of Our American Stories, a listener from Colorado shares her remarkable Elvis story—about the time she met the King not once, but twice in an eight-hour span!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your stories. And this next
story comes to us from a listener in Colorado, Patty Kingsbaker,
and well, take a listen to this one.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
It was back in nineteen sixty two. I was twelve,
and my brother, who was ten years older than me,
was getting out of the Air Force and he was
in California. So he had made a deal with me,
you know, if my grades were really good, that he
would fly me out to California and that I could
drive back with him cross country when he got out

(00:54):
of the Air Force. So and of course I was
just beside myself, thinking, oh my god, We're going to
go to Disneyland and I'm going to get to see
Hollywood and Hollywood Boulevard and the stars. And you know,
it's a twelve year old. I just I figured if
you went to Hollywood, you were going to see movie

(01:15):
stars anyway. So I flew out and we spent a
couple of days in La We went and saw all
the starts on Hollywood Boulevard. In fact, it was Thanksgiving.
It was around Thanksgiving time. He took me to dinner
at this restaurant in Hollywood that was really famous at
the time. They actually brought a phone to our table

(01:37):
so that I could call my mom and say happy things.
I was like, I mean, for a twelve year old,
they bring a phone to the table. Then I looked
across the room and I saw I went, I know
that guy. It was Jesse White, who at the time
was the Maytag guy. So, you know, that was my

(01:57):
first celebrity sighting. But we went to Disneyland, and the
whole day we were there, you know, I mean, Jesse
White wasn't exactly up to where I you know, I
wanted to see somebody like a net Okay or Frankie Avalon.
And so when we were at Disneyland, the whole day
my brother would go, oh, there's a net and I

(02:21):
go where, And of course he was just yanking my
chain and they weren't there, and he kept doing that
to me, and I would get all excited, and you know,
no celebrities and so but we had a great time
at Disneyland, and then we hit the road and we
had spent the night in Needles California. So we got

(02:41):
up really early, went to the gas station to gas
up to head out, and the gas station was kind
of crowded, which I really didn't notice at the time,
but there was a trailer pull on a horse and
there was a big like win a Baygo type thing
and so but I'm sitting in the passenger seat and

(03:02):
my brother comes back to the car and he goes,
get out of the car. Elvis Presley is standing over there,
and I'm like, yeah, right, I mean, I'm not going
to fall for that again. And he goes, I swear,
do you get out of the car. Elvis Presley is
standing over there. So I'm like, I look out of

(03:22):
the car and sure enough, standing there in black pants
and this shirt and this scarf around is Elvis Presling.
So I grab a piece of paper and I get
out of the car and I go over to I
can't speak. I'm like, I'm standing in the presence of

(03:43):
royalty and he just kind of smiles and I'm standing
there with my pan and paper, and uh, he said,
did you want me to sign that for you? And
I said yes, please. So he asked me what my
name was. I said Patty. So he wrote to Patty,
I still have it to this day. Levin kisses Elvis

(04:04):
and I got back in the car and my heart
which is pounding, and he got back in the Winnebago.
And what it was. It was there was a Cadillac
limousine the Winnebago, and then there was another car pulling
the horse, and in each of those there were two
chauffeurs with you know, these overalls with ep on there,
you know. And so they kind of took off and

(04:26):
then the guy there was this guy who stayed to
pay their gas bill, and it turned out to be
Colonel Parker. So my brother started talking to him and
he said, yeah, that Elvis had just finished filing this
film Viva Las Vegas, and that they were heading back
to Memphis. He was just really nice. Anyway, we got

(04:47):
in the car and they took off, and I said
to my brother, I got a picture. I said, you've
got to follow them. You've got to follow them. I
need a picture. So in the meantime, I put rollers
in my hair. I'm twelve, you know, And we followed
them for hours, and sure enough they start pulling into

(05:09):
another gas station. And when my brother used to tell
this story, he goes, rollers were going everywhere all over
the car, and you know, I'm brushing my hair and
trying to just look perfect for Elvis. And so I
got out of the car when we got to this
gas station and I went up to one of the
guys with the overalls and the EP and I said,
could I please get a picture of Elvis? He said, well,

(05:32):
we don't have any and he said, oh, no, I
have a camera. I'll take the picture. And he was
just kind of snotty. He just said, you know, mister
Presley doesn't get his picture taking like that. And I'm like,
so I get back in the car. Course, now I've
got crocodile tears. I have followed Elvis for hours trying

(05:53):
to get this picture, and nothing would upset my brother
more than his little sister having crocodile tears. And so
all of a sudden, Elvis got out of the winter
Baker again. So my brother got out of the car
and he said, hey, Elvis, and he goes yeah, and
he goes, can I get a picture of you with
my sister? He goes sure, And so I'm like trying
to dry my tears and I'm getting out of the

(06:15):
car and I walk over there and put his arm
around me, and he said, hey, haven't I seen you
somewhere before? And I went, yeah, a couple hours ago
in another gas station. So we did get the picture.
Of course, back in those days, you know, it was
with a little instamatic camera, and my brother only took

(06:37):
one picture instead of several, and he was so nervous
that it is a little blurry. But I do have
the picture, and I do have the autograph.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
And what a great story from Patty King's baker, and boy,
she recalls that like it was yesterday, and I can
bet her brother was shaking like a leaf take of
that picture. By the way, we broadcast just an hour
south of Memphis, in a beautiful town called Oxford, missus Zippy.
To the east, Tupolo, Elvis' birthplace is an hour away,
and to the north, well Graceland is an hour away.

(07:06):
And I don't think it's an accident that our American
stories comes from a place not far from where elbos
was born and where he died. Patty Kingsbaker's story a
beautiful story, and how Elvis treated her, my goodness, just beautiful.
Both of their stories here on our American Stories. Folks,

(07:31):
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(07:52):
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