She loved to reminisce about her time with 'Mr. P', her "white son"

By Stephen D. Price, The Commercial Appeal, 13 July 2005

W. Pauline Nicholson cooked green beans for Elvis Presley as well as mashed potatoes, crowder peas and his favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches. In addition to cook, she worked as his housekeeper and sometimes looked after a young Lisa Marie Presley. "Elvis was like a son to her, to hear her talk about it," said Nicholson's daughter, Roslyn Guest. Mrs. Nicholson died Thursday of cancer at Baptist Hospital East. She was 76. Her children described her as caring, humble and giving. "She would take clothes and shoes and give them to people in the community," said her son, Ossie Nicholson Jr. "They would be my favorite clothes but she told me to learn to share with people who don't have much. I didn't understand that at the time, but being a preacher now I understand."

Mrs. Nicholson was featured in the movie "This is Elvis," and loved to talk about her time with the King of Rock and Roll, whom she called "Mr. P." "We hated it when Elvis Week came," Ossie Nicholson Jr. said. "She relived her time with him. She would say that's my 'white son.'"

She was introduced to Elvis in the mid-1960s by a neighbor, Cleo Smith. "She knew my mother cooked well," Ossie Jr. said. Elvis would sometimes talk with Mrs. Nicholson in the kitchen at Graceland and when he learned in 1974 her husband, Ossie Sr., was laid off, he hired him as a guard. She continued cooking for the Presley family after Elvis died.

Last Christmas, when Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, came to Memphis, they requested Mrs. Nicholson come and cook for them. Five days before she died, a hospitalized Mrs. Nicholson stopped eating and drinking and wouldn't respond to relatives.

That changed when a friend called. "Priscilla Presley called her and told her to eat and drink," Ossie Jr. said. "That just lit her face up to learn how much she loved her and cared for her. She ate that day."

In addition to her son Ossie Jr. and daughter Roslyn, both of Memphis, Mrs. Nicholson leaves her husband of 55 years, Ossie Nicholson; six other daughters, Lynda Robinson, Vanessa Hess, Murna Barrett, Z. Carol Hunter, Joslyn Franklin, and A. Michelle Martin, all of Memphis; an adopted son, L. Price of Memphis; 24 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be Sunday at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church at 3 p.m. Snow Funeral Home has charge.

Cook for Elvis Presley dies

MEMPHIS (AP) — W. Pauline Nicholson, Elvis Presley's cook, who prepared the King's favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, died July 7 of cancer. She was 76. In addition to cooking, Nicholson also worked as his housekeeper and sometimes looked after a young Lisa Marie Presley.

She continued cooking for the Presley family after Elvis died, including last Christmas, when Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, came to Memphis and requested Nicholson cook for them.

Nicholson was featured in the movie This is Elvis, and loved to talk about her time with the King of Rock and Roll, whom she called Mr. P Nicholson was introduced to Elvis in the mid-1960s by a neighbor, Cleo Smith, who knew she was a good cook, said her son, Ossie Nicholson Jr Elvis would sometimes talk with Nicholson in the kitchen at Graceland and when he learned in 1974 her husband, Ossie Sr., was laid off, he hired him as a guard.

Jonathan V. posting on Elvis Blog

The gentle soul who made the King's meatloaf, banana pudding, and fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Nicholson was part of a different time, when people of Elvis' stature didn't fuss over macrobiotic diets.

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"Elvis Presley is the supreme socio-cultural icon in the history of pop culture"

(Dr. Gary Enders)

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" Elvis is the 'glue' which holds our society together....which subconciously gives our world meaning"

(Anonymous)

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"Eventually everybody has to die, except Elvis"

(humorist Dave Barry)

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"He is the "Big Bang", and the universe he detonated is still expanding, the pieces are still flying"

(Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis")

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"I think Elvis Presley will never be solved"

(Nick Tosches)

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"He was the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here"

(Carl Perkins)

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"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew I wasn't going to work for anybody...hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"

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"When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted was to be Elvis Presley"

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