Video: Fulton Resident Remembers Elvis Presley As Neighbor And Classmate

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FULTON, MISS. (WCBI) – Fans from across the country and the world are heading to Tupelo, for that city’s annual festival honoring its most famous son.
As WCBI’s Allie Martin reports, while there will be thousands of Elvis Presley fans in the area ,  one Fulton resident has some unique memories of her childhood friend who became the original American Idol.

Years before the world knew Elvis the entertainer,  Laverne Clayton called Elvis her friend.

“He lived next door,” Clayton said.

Clayton is 81 and lives at the Courtyards Assisted Living Center in Fulton.  Earlier this year, a worker at the center handed out a photo of his granddad’s sixth grade class at Lawhon Elementary School.  Among the faces in this school picture, are a young Elvis Presley, in overalls, and Laverne Clayton.

She remembers Elvis as a mild mannered youngster.

“He said yes ma’am and no ma’am, and yessir and no sir, He went to church all the time,” she said.

Clayton says life was simple for those who lived on Old Saltillo Road.  There wasn’t much money , but Elvis was a frequent visitor.

“He had a bicycle and my brothers had one, and I seen them riding by on the bicycle, he would come by the house everytime,  I never did hear no cuss words, or anything like that,” Clayton said.

The Presley’s attended the same Assembly of God church as Clayton and her family.  She says although Elvis eventually moved to Memphis, he would make return trips to his hometown and visit his friends.

“He come to see us and all the boys was in the front yard, and I was standing on the porch and he said, ‘hey Laverne’  He liked me, I liked him, as a friend,” she said.

And although her next door neighbor and classmate went on to become arguably the most famous entertainer in the world,  Laverne Clayton still thinks of him as the skinny boy from East Tupelo.

“He was our friend,” she said.

Clayton says she has vivid memories of Elvis visiting Johnnie’s Drive in not long after he hit the big time.