Elvis Presley comforting his father, Vernon, on the front steps of Graceland on the afternoon of August 14, 1958. 🖤
Photographer Snooky Lawson caught this private moment, and it shows a side of the King of Rock 'n' Roll that the public rarely saw—just a heartbroken young son mourning an unimaginable loss.
Elvis’s beloved mother, Gladys, had passed away from heart failure earlier that morning at just 46 years old. Elvis was stationed in Texas doing his basic training for the US Army when she fell ill, and he had frantically rushed back to Memphis on emergency leave to be with her. After she passed away at the hospital, Elvis and his father returned to Graceland to face the reality of the loss together.