Patti Dozier/Times-EnterpriseSeated on a bench decorated with Elvis-themed throw pillows, Thomasville's Mary Kaye Nobles displays a replica of Elvis' 1955 pink Cadillac.

THOMASVILLE — To Elvis Presley fans, his life and music were magic. Elvis’ followers, particularly women, were more than fans. They truly loved the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Despite Presley’s tragic, untimely death four decades ago, the love is no less. The emotions have not waned.

Mary Kaye Nobles is a lifelong Elvis fan and has visited Graceland, Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, twice.

“It was wonderful,” she said.

Nobles and her husband David, also a Presley fan, renewed their vows on their 10th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator as the minister and soloist.

Sheryl Sealy recalled that when the family returned home to Charleston, South Carolina, she asked a friend across the street, “Did you know Elvis died?”

“My parents were fans. They had albums they would play,” said Sealy, who is the City of Thomasville director of marketing.

“Elvis has some good songs that stand the test,” Sealy, 46, said.

She lamented the number of celebrities like Presley who have died from repercussions of what is known today as substance abuse.

During an unexpected layover in Memphis, Sealy visited Graceland. 

“The house screams ’70s,” she recalled, adding that Presley’s awards room went “on and on and on.”

David Almeda, his parents, brother and sister visited Graceland in 2016.

“I think my mother was kind of into it,” Almeda, Times-Enterprise sports editor, said.

He recalled a Graceland room with three televisions and the Jungle Room with carpet on the ceiling. 

“It was really green. I could tell it was a ’60s or ’70s sort of thing,” Almeda, 24, said.

Horses were kept at Graceland, along with Presley’s many cars.

“I admire what he did for the (music) industry,” Almeda said.

Noting Elvis’ early death, Almeda wondered aloud what the Rock ‘n’ Roll King’s later life would have been like.

One of Len Robinson’s regrets is that he did not jump at a chance to see Presley in concert in Jacksonville, Florida.

Frank Sinatra, Robinson noted, was as big in his heyday as Elvis was in his — “or even bigger.” However, Elvis changed rhythm and blues, bluegrass, country and pop music.

“Bluegrass artists almost starved during Elvis’ early years. They couldn’t play rockabilly,” Robinson said.

Elvis brought about the biggest change in music witnessed by Robinson, 76.

The radio station owner expressed sorrow for Elvis, the weight gain and prescription drugs toward the end of his life, along with the abnormal lifestyle, not being able to go out in public.

“Any type of normalcy, he gave up,” Robinson said. “That was the price you paid for being Elvis.”

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820