Mackey and Vernon...and Elvis
When cousin, Mackey Hargett, first told me about his plans to commemorate Vernon Presley's birthplace, I prayed that all would go through for him just as he had hoped, for he was so excited about this labor of love tribute to a man who was like a second father to him.
(Vernon holding Mackey's daughter, Maria.) When Mackey first visited with Vernon Presley at Graceland®, he said he was overcome with awe as he sat in the kitchen chatting with Vernon when in walked cousin Elvis. "Elvis," said Vernon, "this is a cousin of yours on the Wallace side of the family..." And so begins the story that Mackey has since told,
the truth about the Rosella Presley and her family.
Mackey had become quite close with Vernon. They visited often, continuing to get together even after Elvis' passing. Mackey had never known his own father, Tearsie Hargett, who was killed in action in WWII, and he looked up to Vernon as almost a surrogate dad. Mackey's admiration for Vernon became so strong that he felt he wanted to do something special in remembrance of Vernon, and that chance came to when a parcel of land in Fulton, Mississippi came up for sale, the very piece of property that once held the very house where Vernon Presley was born on April 10, 1916, to Jessie D. Presley and Minnie Mae Hood Presley.
Mackey offered to buy the section of parcel where the home once stood and eventually succeeded. He then went a step further and sought to preserve the parcel of land, as a tribute to Vernon Presley, putting in an order for a Mississippi State Historical Marker. The order was accepted and the rest is history! Thanks to Mackey's efforts, Vernon Presley will be remembered.
Cousin Mackey is to be commended for this commemoration to the father of Elvis Presley as not much is actually spoken about Vernon and the extent of the struggles he endured in younger days, a sad story to tell about love lost.
Mackey and Vernon
