When people think about the women in Elvis Presley’s life, Gladys Presley and Priscilla Presley usually come first.
But inside the Presley family was another group of women who lived through the poverty, sudden fame and enormous changes that followed Elvis from Tupelo to Graceland.
One of the most important was his paternal grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley.
Elvis rarely called her Minnie Mae.
To him, she was “Dodger.”
According to Graceland, Minnie Mae separated from her husband and eventually moved in with her son Vernon, daughter-in-law Gladys and young Elvis. When the Presleys left Tupelo for Memphis, she went with them. She later lived with the family in their Memphis homes, including Graceland.
She was not simply a relative who occasionally visited Elvis after he became famous.
She was there before the mansion.
Before the gold records.
Before the world knew his name.
The unusual “Dodger” nickname appears to go back to Elvis’s childhood. An account preserved by Christie’s says a young Elvis threw a baseball that nearly struck his grandmother. She quickly dodged out of the way, and Elvis began calling her “Dodger.”
Elvis Presley’s Grandmother Minnie Mae “Dodger”
Their bond continued even after Elvis became one of the most famous people alive.
When Elvis entered the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany in 1958, Minnie Mae traveled overseas with him and Vernon. Graceland confirms that she stayed close to her grandson during that extraordinary period of his life.
That alone says something about the Presley family.
Elvis could be surrounded by soldiers, reporters and fans thousands of miles from Tennessee, yet members of the same family who had known him when he had almost nothing were still nearby.
Minnie Mae also remained at Graceland after Elvis was gone.
She outlived her grandson and her son Vernon, passing away on May 8, 1980. She was eventually buried in Graceland’s Meditation Garden beside Elvis, Vernon and Gladys.
Another Presley woman quietly became part of Graceland’s story.
Delta Mae Presley Biggs, Vernon’s sister and Elvis’s aunt, lived at the mansion for years.
She remained there even after Graceland opened to the public in 1982.
Tourists were walking through one of the most famous houses in America while Aunt Delta was still actually living there. Graceland says she remained a resident until her passing in 1993.
In fact, Delta joined Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO Jack Soden in cutting the ribbon when Graceland officially opened for tours.
Because she still occupied part of the house, areas of the mansion were introduced to the public gradually. Graceland notes that the kitchen, for example, did not become part of the regular tour until after Delta passed away in 1993.
Minnie Mae and Delta were never the public faces of the Elvis Presley story.
That may be exactly why their roles are so interesting.
They represented continuity.
The surroundings changed from small Southern homes to Graceland. Elvis went from an unknown Memphis teenager to an international superstar. Lisa Marie became the next generation of the family.
Yet relatives from Elvis’s earliest life remained inside that world.
Elvis became known everywhere as the King of Rock and Roll, but at home he was still part of a family whose history had begun long before fame arrived.
Behind the gates of Graceland were women like Minnie Mae “Dodger” Presley and Aunt Delta who never needed the spotlight to become permanent parts of the Presley story.