In Memory of Patti Parry

The Elvis FANtasy Fest loved Patti Parry and she loved the Elvis FANtasy Fest. Patti was a special guest on many occasions and she loved the Porter County Special Olympians, especially our official greeters, Chuckie and Dale. She came as often as she could and never once charged a fee. As our special guest, she came to talk about her friend Elvis, a task she never tired of. She was a true friend to both Elvis and those of us that helped keep his memory alive. She often told us that she knew Elvis would have loved and supported what we do for the Special Olympics in his name.

If you would like to send a memorial contribution to benefit Special Olympics in Patti's name, we will let the family know of your gift and make a donation in her name on Elvis' birthday January 9th 2012. Please make your contribution to the Elvis FANtasy Fest and reference Patti Parry. Thank you in advance for your support of Special Olympics and for remembering Patti.  We will all miss her.

Elvis FANtasy Fest for the Patti Parry Memorial Fund.
51 Woodacre Drive
Carmel, IN 460332

Patti's Life with Elvis
Everyone that ever met her heard this story:
Patti Parry met Elvis Presley when she was 17, and it was just as you might imagine it. The year was 1960 and it was a sunny day in California. She and her girlfriend were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard in an old Buick on their way to a fraternity party and they spotted a fancy black Rolls Royce. It's Elvis, they realized, and Parry pretended not to recognize him. "You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" she coyly asked. Pretty soon, she was living with Elvis — not as a girlfriend but as a member of the Memphis Mafia. She was a little sister to the men who hung in a tight circle around Elvis and she gave up her youth and a chance at romance so she could hang with The King. "Our personalities just bonded," said Parry "He was gorgeous, he was 25," but Parry knew she was not meant for a romance with Elvis. "So he adopted me. I didn't leave for 17 years. I gave up my life to Elvis." Her parents weren't happy. She stopped dating, gave up life as she knew it, and traveled with Elvis and the gang. And because of that, she said, she never had children. "Where he went, I went. I have no children because I gave up my life for him. Where he went, I followed." Maybe you had to know Elvis to understand. But 30 years after his death, Parry said she still misses him. She's almost 65 and has just retired from her work as a hair dresser. And it's only recently that she's gotten on the Elvis circuit to talk about her time spent with Elvis. Parry said Elvis was probably attracted to her honesty and the sense of family she gave him. "I told him the truth, and he loved me for that. I looked after him. He trusted me. Those guys, they adopted me." She enjoys the tribute shows, she said, because they keep Elvis' memory alive. "They have wonderful, wonderful tribute artists. I do not have any problem with tribute artists as long as they don't think they're Elvis. They love him and they honor him."