Author of 'We Remember, Elvis', 2nd edn 2006

Read Susan MacDougall's review of We Remember, Elvis

EIN: Your book has proved to be controversial, judging by reactions to the review on the EIN Website. Why did you write it? WJH: I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to be on EIN, you have some very discerning viewers, with varied opinions and that's always a good thing. I feel lucky to be included here. Shortly after Elvis' death, and beginning with that day, many comments were being made by those who said they were his friends but in this case, their actions said otherwise. People were in shock all over the world - Elvis was gone - and suddenly everyone realized what the entire world had lost.

My husband, our daughter who was 16 when Elvis died, myself and many of our family members and friends had known a man who was honest, good hearted, friendly, kind, honorable and he was devastated by his three former employee/friends' accusations, hurt to the point of being physically sick because he couldn't understand why they had wanted to hurt him in such a fashion.

We were astonished to hear newscasters interviewing those 3 guys, hanging on their every word. Newspapers, television, radio and magazines spewing their, as Elvis called such things-"d, d, t's " ("distractions, distortions and tales") around the world day after day as if it all were gospel truths!

We were angry, we had to do something for Elvis. So I got busy writing our story and our friends and family members did the same. It all ended up as the first edition of We Remember, Elvis that came out in hardback in 1978. My daughter whom Elvis called "little Julie" and I along with another friend, who had known Elvis for some time, went on a coast-to-coast book tour-without out any books! We had just the dust cover and some photographs, jewelry he had given to me, and a couple of written notes he had included in a Christmas card and a birthday card. It was a lot of fun, but one of the hardest things I've ever had to do - go out in public and talk a bout the personal side of Elvis - a thing I had promised not to do and a promise I had kept for nearly 15 years while he was alive. That's how it all began.

EIN: You say you knew Elvis about 15 years, from the filming of Kissin' Cousins until his death. How did that come about?

WJH: It was a total surprise to me! I wasn't an Elvis fan, had been raised in a strict Pentecostal (Assembly of God Church) whose pastor had given many a sermon on this Elvis guy being "the devil's child" sent to destroy the youth of America! My husband who was an Elvis fan, worked nights, slept days and we lived near the beach - so I took our young daughter there so he could sleep; often on the way home I would stop off and do our laundry.

One day in late summer of 1962 my daughter found a playmate at the laundry and his mom and I talked while the clothes dried and the kids played. She told me she was an actress, had made 2 films with Elvis Presley and that she was just finishing one with him. I didn't quite believe her though she was very beautiful. Since she had just moved down to Huntington Beach for her son's health she didn't know anyone and she invited me and my daughter to come by her place - she said Elvis was supposed to call her and she didn't want to miss the call - she thought he was going to ask her to come up to his house and she said, maybe he'll say hello to you!

Well, I was curious, the kids were having fun and she suggested getting some tacos so I followed her home. Elvis did call - after their conversation she told him I had just moved out to California, hadn't met or seen any movie stars and would he say hello? He did, and talked for about 35 minutes! That was the beginning.

EIN: We understand you worked for Elvis for a while. Can you tell us about that-when the job started and how long it lasted?

WJH: I never worked for Elvis - I volunteered to help him when he said he had so many letters to answer - all of who were from handicapped young persons and people he wanted to respond to personally. Some months later after we became friendlier, and I had gone to MGM with my girlfriend who worked as an extra in his films and I had been hired as temp in the mailroom, he told me he was so busy he couldn't keep up. I said I was a good typist and would do them for him if he would dictate his response on a cassette I could do it fast and easily. He thanked me, said that would be a big help - I could drop by his home in Bel Air, as it wasn't far from Culver City.

I always returned his recorded cassettes with the letters. The first time I gave him the cassettes he seemed surprised. I think he thought I would keep them and I said, "Elvis, these are personal correspondence - you need to keep them safe." I won't ever forget the look on his face, it was priceless and he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek as he said, "I'll remember that."

EIN: Why did this job come to an end?

WJH: I typed several hundred responses for him - then he said that he had a secretary doing them as she had time. I was working full time by then and didn't have as much free time as before, and couldn't always get up to Bel Air so easily.

EIN: Once you saw less of Elvis, you continued to have phone contact, according to your book. Please tell us about that.

WJH: I don't know exactly why he decided to give me his personal phone number - one he said rang in his bedroom - the first time I met him personally, at MGM.

The young woman extra who let me say hello to Elvis on her phone, brought me up to meet him at MGM where he had been working on Kissin' Cousins - at his request she said. Elvis was very nice to me, played a joke on me the first thing, sat beside me and then asked me to have lunch in his trailer dressing room. He was a perfect gentleman - we just had lunch though I later heard that he often did other things in there. He was very polite; he said he was hungry and boy, was he!

I had never seen anyone eat as fast as he crammed down that sandwich and half of mine! He gave me some stills from the movie and autographed them, took cufflinks from one of his shirts to give to my husband and then as I was leaving, gave me a piece of paper with his phone number on it, telling me to "Please call me early in the morning". He later on told me that if anyone answered but him just to say, "Hi, it's Bunny, will you get Elvis for me?"

I only had to say that one time in all those years - and those many times he gave me other phone numbers as he changed them from time to time. The one time I needed to use that "code phrase" was when he was in Palm Springs and his housekeeper answered the phone. Elvis was laying out by the pool, with an electric fan running on him, spraying himself with water from a spray bottle trying to get a tan so they wouldn't need to plaster his face with makeup as he was starting another film.

EIN: There are touching stories of Elvis' kindness and generosity to the sick and needy- can you describe any such incidents from your book that are not recorded else where?

WJH: I know of a couple of them-because they were personal to us and are in the book. One being when our daughter was 7 years old and fell from a swing, severely broke her elbow and spent several weeks lying in traction in the Children's Hospital in Orange, Ca.

When Elvis found out, he began sending stuffed toys with flower arrangements every other day to his "little Julie". He also called the nurses' station when he couldn't catch me by phone as I was spending all my time with my daughter.

The nurses said they told him they could not give him information as he wasn't family-he said very sternly, "I'm her Uncle by proclamation damn it, how is she doing?" Well, it was funny, they would run when the phone rang at the station - I mean they ran like deer, then gathered around trying to hear him as which ever one got to the phone first spoke to him. It was a riot!

When Elvis discovered that there was a little girl from Mexico sharing the room with Julie, he was upset, here he had been showering the one child (Julie) with things and this little girl didn't even have her family there with her. She had been born with an abnormal opening at the base of her spine and had never walked-she was about 12 years old. I thought he was going to cry when I told him about her.

The next day and there after for some time, when Julie got her stuffed animal and flowers, the little girl room mate got one too-from her "secret admirer". She beamed! She didn't speak English but her eyes said it all! Elvis also gave me money to buy the little girl some pretty nightgowns and things I thought she'd like - I did and gave the money left over to the nurses to continue getting her things after we left. One of the nurses said Elvis located the girl's family, paid their way up to see her, put them up in a hotel room nearby and when she left the hospital, I heard that he also paid her hospital bill. And when Julie left, Elvis had the florist (DeMurl Tosh Florist in Newport Beach), get a large potted plant, with elves and fairies in the branches for the children's floor and all the nurses got corsages! What a guy.

EIN: Your book includes transcripts of purported conversations with Elvis. Please tell us about the reason behind them.

WJH: That all began after we got acquainted and Elvis was very trusting of us. My husband worked swing shift, often missed Elvis' calls as a result and I asked Elvis if he would mind if I tried to record them so he could hear and enjoy them too. Elvis thought about half a second and said, okay - how are you going to do it?

Well, I got this stick on thing that kept falling off the phone receiver and made pretty horrible, noisy tapes but we loved them anyway. I told him if I was going to do it and he didn't care - he always talked the same way, funny sometimes, more serious others. I was always surprised when I heard people say he didn't talk much - because I realized pretty quickly that if you gave him time, he would talk, and talk and talk - he liked to explain things, almost like a teacher at times. I didn't find him reclusive at all-but it did take me a while to just shut up and wait for him to get going. And he had a great sense of humor - not to mention that wonderful giggling laugh!

The conversation portion in my book, which is actually an interview that I did with him over several months time beginning in late 75 came about because Elvis asked me to interview him. He was helping out a friend taking a course in media productions, who had asked Elvis if he would answer a few questions so he could do a "mini documentary" about him.

Elvis said he would but he wanted the original tapes, to oversee the questions, pick the interviewer and he wanted the finished copy of the product. So it was agreed. I got the question list together, Elvis approved which ones he'd answer and we got it done, though it took longer than I thought; it was done by phone and one in person session. Not all of the answers he gave nor all the questions are in the book - some I thought too personal, too dear to his heart and as such, he wouldn't want the world to have access to it. After his death, some of his friends said he was talking about writing his own book and had chosen a title, "Through My Eyes". It would have been great to read what those eyes saw instead of what everyone else's thought they saw! Elvis gave me an address and I sent him the original tapes, and he received the only professional sized cassette of the mini documentary. I know he got the tapes because he reviewed what was to be used, approved it verbally and the finished product was signed for. The address was in Memphis but it was not Graceland's address ... and I do not know whose address it might have been. I promised him I would never sell nor give away any portion of the conversations we shared to the media and I intend to keep that promise.

EIN: Have you had the tapes authenticated? And if so, by whom?

WJH: I didn't have them authenticated - but a major publishing company had them done in 1978 - I wouldn't turn loose of them so they sent me down to Los Angeles where I spent an entire day sitting in a room watching a guy doing the testing of them through a thick glass window.

He was laughing and crying by turns and seemed to be very intrigued by what he was hearing. During a break for lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon, he told me that he wasn't a fan but after listening to the man being just himself, he found him to be very spiritual, human and possessing a kind heart - he planned to get some of his recordings and give him a listen. He said he'd never thought much about Elvis, hadn't been interested in music but there was something very special about Elvis, he felt he was very misunderstood and that the world had lost a wonderful human being Aug. 16, 1977.

The guy was sincere, he boosted Elvis voice on some tapes, cleaned as much background, phone noise out as he could and "saved" an 8 track that wouldn't play at all for me - at no charge! His name was Arland Johnson; he had worked for years as a scientific researcher in the field for law enforcement. He was working then as voice print expert and he said the science wasn't perfect but was the best they had and reliable enough to be considered viable science.

He found all kinds of "other" sounds on the tapes, birds, baby crying (Lisa), dogs, cats, other people, music, radio and phonograph, a man (Charlie Hodge) talking to Elvis that picked up on the phone and Elvis "wheezing" during one call where he had a fever and chest congestion. About the 3rd year of recording some of Elvis' calls, I inherited a good recording system for telephones through my former employer, a criminal case lawyer. I got good recordings then, and most of the interview was recorded with that system.

Those original tapes I sent to Elvis, I kept very few parts of conversations on tape -I did not want to be responsible for having the whole thing ... I sent it all to Elvis as he had asked for it. I sent copies of what I had left to Lisa when she turned 21 - to her mother's address in Beverly Hills - it was signed for but the signature was not legible. I have never received any response from Lisa or her mother.

The major publishing company (McMillan) that was mainly known at the time for its very big, elegant coffee table venues wanted the tapes to make a recording to sell with the book - I said no. I received a letter from them saying they had signed a tentative agreement with Priscilla Presley for her life story with Elvis and with her signed, there would be no reason to continue working with me. Later, she signed with another company, and for some reason I was happy about it.

EIN: Did you keep dates and diaries? Or other ways to check with authoritative sources?

WJH: I wish I had! I have notes of some conversations not taped, I have the year and maybe month jotted down, but no I didn't keep diaries. I have transcripts of all the taped phone calls, even those I sent to him. It actually didn't occur to me to keep dates and times - after all why would I need to? He was always going to be here.

EIN: Which of the MM did you meet? How often-over a period of time?

WJH: It seems kind of odd even to me now, that Elvis never did introduce me to anyone - not anyone! At the MGM set he didn't, there were two guys who came out of the trailer when he opened the door, one of them was sandy haired and thin and the other was chunkier and brown haired. I have no clue who they were and didn't ask. I think the sandy haired, slender younger guy was Richard Davis but wouldn't swear to it. At Elvis' Bel Air home in 1964 I met Allan Fortas who was very friendly and nice. But we said maybe three or four sentences and that was it. I didn't try to get acquainted with the guys, I was there for Elvis and he's the one I watched and listened to. I didn't meet or befriend any of the girls there except the one I had met at the beach who brought Elvis into our life. On the way home from Bel Air that day, the friendship with her ended ... that's another story.

I was truly surprised and at first didn't believe it, to find out after Elvis died, that his guys appeared clueless as to whom I might be. It became very clear to me then that Elvis chose to keep quiet, to have someone outside of those he worked and lived with to talk to about things that interested him.

I knew his management, friend/employees and some family members didn't want him getting religion, into spiritual books and discussions about God - it might ruin his Rock 'n roll playboy image. I knew too, that his life depended on them in so many ways, but in talking with him, it was very clear how much he needed outside sources, people not connected to his every day existence - and thank God he found a way to have that space.

I hope in some small way, I did help him cope. He surely brightened up my life and that of my family, and through him, we met other phone friends in our area - he had several and he seemed to want to get us all together and we did for the most part. Some of them got to meet him personally; some did not - all at and according to his wishes.

As for the MM that I did meet - two of them actually let me know they accepted me for what I said - one being Ed Parker, who was not considered an "official" MM member but had a book out the same time as I and who was doing book tours as well. We ran into each other at radio stations and etc: and he came to one of the Elvis Conventions we held in Anaheim where he saw some of the phone bills with Elvis' private numbers on them and saw the gifts and notes in Elvis' hand writing. He stood around eating "Elvis cake" and drinking punch and talked some there.

Later, we conversed some in waiting rooms at radio stations etc: and he told me things about the last tour and Elvis' condition, how he was very worried about him and said he wished Elvis would just "pass out" so he could be taken to the hospital "where he belonged." He said Elvis was very "spiritual and gifted" and was being "used up, like a winning race horse". It was very sad when Ed passed away.

Rare Elvis photo with unknown couple on beach

Charlie Hodge came up to me in Las Vegas at the big convention Col. Parker staged after Elvis' death. Charlie said he wanted to see who this Wanda June Hill was. He stood looking at me and then he said, "Well, I guess I've seen you around ... some ... " I said, "I've got you on tape talking to Elvis". He looked surprised, mumbled something about that was possible, then headed off to his cronies. Some months later he and I "bumped" into each other at Elvis conventions in other states. We didn't talk about Elvis, and conversations were brief due to our schedules. He suffered a great loss when his best buddy left and I wish now I had spent more time talking with him. He truly loved Elvis and was a real friend to him right to the end, and Charlie always spoke well of Elvis.

Mrs. McComb came over to our booth in Las Vegas, told me my book was beautiful and I was so surprised I was speechless. Before I could ask her if she had a copy (I was going to give her one) two of the guys hustled her back to their booth as if I might "contaminate her" or something. They avoided me like the plague after that, though we kept "running" into each other on the convention tour circuit.

Those are the only ones that I will mention having any contact with. In 78 several of the MM guys called me a liar when I said in 1978 Elvis had told me he had spoken with Red West in late 1976, and Elvis made excuses for Red having taken part in authoring that book. Elvis also said he forgave Red and sadly wished they could talk of the old days "like before".

Strangely enough that phone call he made to Red in 1976 is now on the Internet with Red's "blessing". I wonder if any of them think about the fact I knew Elvis HAD called Red before he died - and I said so in that first book we did and also in interviews across the country. I was also saying that Elvis was very spiritual, read the Bible, held group meetings in his bedrooms with the young women who came around his homes etc: and was reading spiritual things to them, including the Bible and he was not having group sex - as his MM guys liked to say he did ... now it's common knowledge that Elvis' intentions were honorable and he was probably "saving" the girls from his guys' plans for them! Of course, in 1978 they said I was imagining the whole thing.

There are a couple other guys who worked for Elvis who have said it was possible Elvis had talked with me by phone, disclaiming the statement of another MM member who says "Elvis hated talking on the phone" as they related that Elvis was "always making calls up in his room" usually on his private line and they didn't know whom he was talking with but I am not a namedropper - I never have and I still won't use any of their names to prove anything I say. It's up to whomever if they want to say anything regarding me or not. Some of Elvis guys I met and spoke with only after Elvis' death.

Some of those friends/employees of his I wouldn't want to know .... And never did want to know - especially after having witnessed some of their "after hour antics" in Las Vegas. It was obvious why Elvis wanted to keep them upstairs singing until they "dropped from exhaustion"- at least he didn't have to worry what they might be doing downstairs after the shows. Like he said, "I got ways ..." and he used them.

As for reasons why some of the MM guys wouldn't want to remember me - I think they realize there could be some of those things they can't quite recall for various reasons, that maybe I could know. They might be right.

EIN: Quite a few people have written books claiming to have known Elvis-some are fraudulent and some genuine. How do you think people distinguish between them?

WJH: I can only answer for my self. I look for things that speak from their heart - things that tell me they truly do love him, are not seeking fame and fortune for themselves, but honestly are revealing their experiences with a man they cared for, who inspired them, shared his life with them and whom they miss very much.

Truth speaks for its self and most people can tell the difference by "reading" another's thoughts, in speaking and in print. Elvis had a great saying that I like... "Truth's truth, can't argue with that!" Something that Elvis talked about was friendship and what it meant to be a friend and said: "A friend will keep your secrets and share your grief as well as your joys... and won't sell you out for love of money!" I said, "for love or money" and he said..."No honey. I said, for love of money 'cause that's the main reason people do things...especially when their wants are greater than their needs!"

He sure was right.

"Straight Talk" by Wanda June Hill (EIN's apologies for the poor image quality)

EIN: You have written several other books about Elvis. Please tell us about them.

WJH: I have one I'm working on that was just a self-published thing I did years ago and wasn't really ever published or available other than a few I did for people who wanted one; and I charged just what it cost for me to put it together and mail it.

I've never charged for interviews, always paid my own traveling expenses, hotels etc: and never wanted to make money off his friendship. I still don't. But I realized I have to get more books out to those many new fans and older ones as well, who need and want to know the guy we knew, who was kind, loving, generous and wanted to please everyone he met.

To do that, I chose BookSurge Publishing/via Amazon.com. The one I am working on is called Elvis - Face to Face and is just about those few times I was in his space, actually "face to face" situations at his Bel Air and Palm Springs homes, Las Vegas downstairs and in the suite a couple of brief times. Never alone with him but a very few times... and that was in public places more or less.

Nearly 15 years and it can be put in a little book not more than a few hundred pages - how sad, really. I am including tributes written by several people who love Elvis, a couple of poems by Elvis' fans, parts from letters I've received, and the cover will feature original artwork by a young woman who captures Elvis on canvas beautifully - she lives in Turkey! I hope to get it done by year's end-but it's taking some time; it's not easy for me to do. I miss him a great deal and sometimes have to take a break for a while.

EIN: You own rights to Fairytale and might reissue it - what are your plans for it?

WJH: I do own the rights to the manuscript. It's a very thick book, full of filler stuff and some truth. I'd like to get rid of the filler things and make it more readable and, though it is a fiction book, it has some very good and close resemblance to Elvis' life in that it refers back to those days from the stand point of being set way ahead in time after the main character's idol Elvis, has died.

As for Elvis' death, I think that he died as he wanted, at home, with his friends and everything was all right, just as he said it would be. He was tired, worn out and he was struggling to face the audience looking bloated and being unable to move around as he thought he ought to on stage.

His health had become a big issue, he couldn't figure out what to do, what he ought to do, but he had hope of getting some time off and getting himself back together. He fully knew what was going on, he knew that things had to change and that he had to do something himself - it wasn't going to be done for him this time. He was in pain, from his colon problems, from his back hurting and his legs and from being given so many pills by his doctors - I don't know how he managed as long as he did!

The first time I met him he told me he had to take a tranquilizer before he ate lunch or his nervous stomach might throw lunch back at him! He was only 27 and being given tranquilizers that normally were prescribed for people much older!

He told me he couldn't sleep at night, that he had nightmares and woke up terrified, that he sometimes had to run outside so he could catch his breath and he said he didn't like to sleep alone ... He explained that he was a sleepwalker from childhood and liked having somebody with him to keep an eye on him. He also told me that he had slept in the same bed as his parents from the time he was born until he was much older because they only had one bed and enough cover to keep warm in winter if they slept together. I didn't think it odd - my stepmother's family did the same thing and they had several kids sharing beds.

He often spoke of his early childhood, had a super memory and talked about lots of events in his early life ...including seeing angels, talking to bright, shiny men and having memories of talking with Jesus as a young boy. I believed him. And he didn't feel odd or embarrassed telling me -after all, I told him, I'm a little weird myself so I don't think you're strange at all! He said, "The weird talkin' to the strange huh". And laughed that wonderful sniggering laugh that only Elvis had.

EIN: How did your husband like your friendship with Elvis? Was he jealous?

WJH: People always ask me, wasn't your husband jealous? No he wasn't - not of Elvis. My Jimmie and I had been married nearly 4 years when Elvis entered our lives. (We've been together 48 years) He was the Elvis fan; one of the first paychecks he got in California he went out and bought a little phonograph player and one record album, 50,0000 Fans Can't Be Wrong! Elvis wearing that gold lamé suit on the front cover. I would not have gone with the young woman from the laundry had it not been for Jimmie's love of Elvis - I thought he'd get a kick out of me getting to say hello to Elvis Presley! He did! And he got to be his friend also, and has a couple of Elvis' shirts, a ring from Elvis, and a Bible that Elvis had used and then signed and gave to Jimmie in Dec. of 76 for Jimmie's birthday, Jan. 1st. Inside the Bible is an inscription Elvis wrote, it says: "For Jim, in the love of Jesus & the faith of God in my heart. May God guide your search. E Presley 1-1976"

EIN: Will you be in Memphis this year? Where can we meet up with you?

WJH: I won't be in Memphis this year. I'm 67 years old, been there and done that; I don't sit too long or I can't move, and I don't walk too far or might not make it back home! One of those you know?

Anyway, we were there in 1981 and it was wonderful and so inspiring and also endearing to see his home that he was so proud of, and always changing! Nearly every time we talked he was remodeling or adding onto some part of it! I hope it remains the way he had it as much as possible - it was his only place of refuge, his only real home he said, that he'd ever had - he and his mom and dad. I hope it can always be in Lisa's family line and be the home of Elvis Presley, where some of his happiest days were spent with those he loved so much.

Thank you very much for letting me speak on EIN. I like your site - it gives everyone a chance to speak their minds ... hopefully with respect for one another though that sometimes is very difficult, I realize.

If anyone wants to contact me they can find me at: www.elvislightedcandle.org

EIN: Wanda, thank you very much for your time.

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