Elvis Week Blog #2: Re-posting my interview with Elvis’s nurse, Mrs. Marian Cocke

Meet my sweet friend I met through purchasing her book for my son at Christmas six years ago. Because I’m blogging about Elvis this week, I thought I’d share an earlier interview with her. Hope you enjoy it, whether you’re reading it for the first time or the second!

The photo is a very bad selfie I took in 2015. Wish I had taken another one when visiting with her a few months ago!

I’m thrilled to welcome my special friend, Mrs. Marian Cocke, to my blog today. Mrs. Marian, as I call her (refer to my earlier blog about speaking Southern to understand this), and I became acquainted four years ago when I heard her being interviewed on Sirius XM Elvis radio promoting her book, I Called Him Babe, an account of her time serving as Elvis’s personal nurse and friend. I decided to purchase the book and accompanying CD as a gift, a purchase that led to several phone calls and eventually meeting this incredible lady.

With January 8 being Elvis’s birthday and Birthday Week being celebrated at Graceland, I thought it would be fun to “chat” with her and talk about some of the events described in her book.

Mrs. Marian, thanks so much for agreeing to share your time with me and my readers. Please tell us a little about yourself.

I was born on July 1926 in Fort Benning, Georgia, to Howard and Nocal Justice and lived in Benning the first eight years of my life when my dad transferred to Scofield Barrack, Honolulu, Hawaii.  I grew up on four different Army posts: there (Hawaii), Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Fort Davis, Panama Canal Zone, then on to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, and four days later, the Japanese stormed Pearl Harbor and Daddy was transferred to the Army Depot in Memphis as the Adjutant then later as the Executive Officer.  From the age of five, I had wanted to be a nurse, but when I graduated from Whitehaven High School I was only 16 and too young, so when I became 19, I entered The Holy Name of Jesus Hospital in Gadsden, Alabama.  After graduation I worked at that hospital before moving back to Memphis to be with my family and worked at the VA.  On 9-13-52, I married Robert Cocke and on 10-12-53, our daughter, Katey, was born.  We lived in Memphis through the remaining years. I worked for a thoracic surgeon for 12 years before joining the staff of nursing at Baptist Hospital as an IV nurse, two years later becoming a unit supervisor and two years later becoming an administrative supervisor which gave me the responsibility of several nursing units.  I retired from Baptist in 1984 and a year later the VP of nursing called me and asked me to come back, which I did as I had missed it. I returned as an Administrative Supervisor and worked another 16 years when my doctor made me retire due to health reasons.  Do I miss it? Yes, I still miss being a nurse.

How and when did you first meet Elvis?  I met Elvis in January of 1975 when Dr. Nick came to me at my nursing unit and told me that Elvis needed to come in, and he wanted him on my unit. I wasn’t overly pleased because I was afraid it might cause a disruption to my unit. But he came a couple of days later. I had been holding the suite for him, and I must confess that when I walked in and met him, he totally walked into my heart.

We spent the day together as it was actually my day off, and he asked me what I wanted him to do about private duty nurses, and I told him whatever he wanted to do. He said that he would have them, but he wanted me to take care of him. I told him that I would, but he needed to know that I ran the floor, saw 51 other patients twice a day, and ran the unit. We would but the 3:00 to 11:00 nurse and 11:00 to 7:00 nurse in the same position. This was done and worked out fine. Elvis was in the hospital three weeks, and on Valentine’s, he gave me a beautiful diamond cross on a gold chain. He gave the 3:00 to 11:00 nurse a diamond ring, and the 11:00 to 7:00 nurse a very delicate gold chain with a small diamond cross on it.

He was discharged a few days later, and I didn’t hear from him until August of that year, sayig he needed to come back in but it had to be my floor. We had a patient in the suite, and I called Maurice Elliot, one of the VPs, to see if I could ask him if he would transfer to another unit as Elvis wanted to come back to our floor. He immediately agreed. The room was readied, and when Elvis called me back an hour later, I told him the suite was ready.I got a call about 9:00 that night. He was back, and would I please come in?

  When I walked in, he hugged me, told me he had lost weight, and up his shirt so I could see a flatter belly. I rubbed his belly and “yes, yes, you sure have” and the next thing he said was that he had a new car coming for me the next day. I told him I didn’t need a car as I had one and couldn’t drive but one at a time. He said that if I didn’t want it, I could give it away, but it was coming, and it did.

The next day it came, white with white leather upholstery and beautiful. When he left the hospital that time, Dr. Nick said that he needed a nurse for a couple of weeks to monitor his BP at home, and Elvis told him he wanted me to go home with him. I told him that I had a job with Baptist, and he asked if I could just come for a couple of weeks, so I talked it over with Bob and Katey that night. He said, “Okay, two weeks.”

When I went to work the next day, the first thing he asked me was if I could come. I told him, “Yes, for two weeks,” and he told me to bring my SS card. I asked why, and he said so I could be paid. I told him I would come but wouldn’t take his money, and he asked me why I wouldn’t take his money, everyone else did. I told him I thought it was time somebody did something for him for a change. When I told Kathy (the other nurse who was going to go from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. every day), she said she wouldn’t take any money either.

She stayed until the latter part of November. Her husband was in the Navy and was transferred, so she left, and I continued on, still not accepting a salary. For Christmas that year, he gave me a 21 karat aquamarine ring cut in four tiers and with two karats of diamonds around the ring. I stayed until the end of January until my mother became terminally ill with cancer, so I had to leave, took a leave of absence from the hospital, and stayed with my mother until she died the latter part of February.

Elvis sent beautiful flowers. He went to Hawaii and was back on the road doing shows, but any time he called me and asked me to come out to Graceland and see him, have a cup of coffee, rub his back, I always went. The last time he called, it was just a few days before he died. It was 2:00 a.m. I got up, went, sat on the side of his bed, and he spoke very little. He said that he just needed me to come out and be with him. Ginger was there, though she left the room and came back later, around 6:30. He told me he was okay and I should go home and get some sleep.

He hugged me goodbye, and when I got to the door to leave his room, he called to me and said, “Miss Cocke, the doors of this house will always be open to you.” Had I known that his passing would be so soon, I would never have left.

I love it that you told Elvis you didn’t care for his music. What was his reaction, and did you eventually change your mind? We were sitting in Lisa’s room where we always sat. He asked me if I had been to any of his shows , and I told him no, that I wasn’t into his kind of music. He said, “Well, are you a fan now?” And I told him yes, but I knew him now.

In your book, or maybe on your CD or both, you talk about the relationship you and Elvis developed. How would you describe that relation? When I had spent that first day with him, we talked a lot, watched Brian’s Song, and we cried together. We spent the entire day talking other than for the movie, and the chemistry between us clicked. We were comfortable with each other and had respect for each other. He wouldn’t call me “Marian” because I was older, though only by nine years. He shared many stories as he shared feelings about some of the people who worked with him or for him. He told me about some of the things that some those who worked for him had asked for. How they came to work for him. He also told me many times of his respect and admiration for George Klein and Jerry Schilling and how these two men were always there for him. And how much they meant to him. He had the utmost faith and trust in the two of them.

I can remember it making the news when Elvis bought cars for people. Tell us a little more about what happened when he gave you yours. The day the car was delivered, I was making his bed (in the hospital) and he was in the sitting room. He called me and asked me if I would come over to where he was. He was standing at the window. I went over and asked him what he needed. He told me to look across the street. I did, and there it was, this beautiful white Grand Prix. I looked back at him, and he was dangling the keys. I snatched those keys, ran out the door, told my secretary I would be back in a little bit, and left the floor. I went to the nursing office, got the VP of Nursing, and when we got across the street, the man who had delivered the car was standing by the door with the door open. He told me, “She’s all yours.” I got in as did the other two, and as I pulled away, I ran over the curb. I looked up at his window, and he was standing there with his hand over his eyes. When I left that day, I had gone and thanked him for my beautiful car, and he hugged me and told me that I was very welcome and I deserved a pretty, new car. When I got off duty, I had called my mother and told her to come downstairs and I would take her for a ride in my new car that Elvis had bought me, but when I left my unit, there were three TV stations there, so I went back.

You also became close with his family, and I love your Aunt Delta stories. Would you care to share one of them with us and explain to my readers who she was? Delta and I became very close, and after Elvis died, I continued to go to Graceland every week to see her and Dodger (Elvis’s paternal grandmother). Sometimes we would have lunch at home, but most of the time we went out to eat and shop, especially after Dodger died. One afternoon, she called and said that Dodger was sick and would I come out and spend the night? I did that several times, and she always wanted me to sleep with Dodger, which I did, so I would be there if she awakened and needed anything. I loved both of these two ladies, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to help either of them or Vernon. He was a very nice man, and I wanted to be there for him when he wanted me to help with anything.

What was the most extraordinary or memorable experience you had as a friend of Elvis?

That’s really easy. It was the night we were visiting in Lisa’s room where we always sat (as I shared her bedroom with her), and he reached his hand over and placed it on my knee and said to me, “Miss Cocke, you’re one of the few people that I know who has never asked anything from me but friendship.” There is no way to top that.

We don’t have enough  time or space here to talk about everything that happened during your time as his nurse and confidante. Is your book still available for purchase? If so, how?

I have the books myself and sell them from my home or from Marlowe’s. The books are $25.00 which includes shipping and handling in the United States. Outside the country, the price varies, depending on where it is.

(If any of my readers would like to know how to contact Mrs. Marian about purchasing a book, email me at authorpamharris@gmail.com, and I will get word to her.)

Some people may not be aware of how generous Elvis was with local charities, and you have helped keep that legacy alive. What can you tell us about the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation?  The only thing I know about the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation is that is 100% charitable only, and our (annual)) dinner, the Elvis Presley Memorial Dinner, gives 1/3 of what we make to the foundation.

(Note from Pam: I may blog more about the Elvis Presley Memorial Dinner in August, and with my limited knowledge, it is my undertanding that the proceeds help people with severe health challenges and organizations that help them. I need to learn more about it.)

At the beginning of our chat, I joked about how you didn’t care for Elvis’s music before you met him. I know that you changed your mind. Do you have a favorite song?

I actually have three, in this order: “I’ll Remember You,” “The Wonder of You,” and “Memories.”

Is there anything else you’d like to say about your book, the Foundation, or Elvis himself?

He was a very special young man, more like my child to me despite the fact that there were only nine years’ difference in our ages. I loved him then and love him still. There is never a day that goes by that he isn’t in my thoughts and prayers. Our daughter, our only child, went to Jesus eighteen years ago this July. I miss him like I miss our Katey who was our pride and joy. She died at the age of 47, and her husband, who had been a city engineer, had been killed in an auto accident many years before she left us.

Mrs. Marian, you have led an interesting life and have experienced much loss, but I always admire your positive spirit and strength. You are an example for all of us. Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m looking forward to seeing you soon!

Thanks, Pam, I look forward to that too!