Duane said he knew Elvis!
Duane irritated me, because he was always claiming to know famous people.
In Fullerton, California, I served as Minister of Youth under the ministry of Bob Leffel at the Fulleton 1st Church of the Nazarene. I assisted in the music, but the Minister of Music position was held by a talented and outgoing man by the name of Duane Howard. Duane had formerly been the manger of a recording studio, and he was always mentioning names of people he had worked with, as if they were his personal friends. Kris Kristofferson, Andre Crouch, Elvis Presley, the Imperials?! I took his conversations with a large grain of salt, or perhaps a whole bag.
I wondered if I was overly skeptical when we attended a concert of the gospel quartet called The Imperials. During the intermission, I was walking beside Duane as we approached the music stand, and I noticed that as Duane approached, the manger of the group, the bass, who's name was Armond Morales, saw Duane from a distance, and shouted at Duane with a delighted face, and inquired about Duane's family, calling them by name.
Duane later took Lynne and me to a Bill Gaither concert together, the early 70's version, when Bill sang with his wife and brother Danny. There was a rumor that Elvis was attending the concert. I noticed the balcony was roped off.
During intermission I had to use the restroom desperately, and the men's room had a very long line, and the intermission was almost over when I got back to Lynne and Duane at the record stand. She had a very quiet demeanor, and she turned to me and said that she and Duane had seen Elvis. I thought to myself,"Big deal!" and never asked her about it. On the ride home from the concert, Duane was all excited about "seeing" Elvis, but Lynne was still quiet. I suspected that Duane was making too much about the Elvis sighting, and I made no comments nor did I ask any questions.
Several years later Lynne and I were visiting with some friends, Denny and Jeanie Middleton, who had come over both to visit and to check up on us (read the story of Chief Lone Eagle - Pursued by Grace), and I brought up the story of Duane and The Imperials, and grudgingly admitted that perhaps Duane was a little better connected than I had thought. But I tried to justify my skepticism with the comment that he said he knew Elvis personally, and I thought that his claim to know Elvis personally was an overblown fiction.
"But he did know Elvis!", my wife forcefully interrupted!
I sputtered that he might have been acquainted with Elvis, but friends? She went back to that night that I disappeared in the restroom, and told the rest of the story.
That night Elvis came sweeping down the wide elegant stair way that led to the balcony, which had been closed to the public. He was surrounded by his body guards and friends, and halfway down the stairs, he looked across the huge atrium, filled with thousands of people, and spotted Duane. Elvis smiled, yelled Duane's name, and waved. He made his way across the room towards Duane, and as he drew near, he asked "How's your wife, Joyce, and the kids?" He named the children by name, and stood by Duane for perhaps 20 minutes, standing elbow to elbow with Lynne, who was too stunned to even talk for the rest of the evening! Right after Elvis left, I returned to the atrium, to face a woman that was quiet, because she was in a state of shock!
Why did you never mentioned the details?!" I questioned her!She told me bluntly, "Because you never asked!"
Lynne also clarified my thinking on what I thought was bad news on an otherwise miraculous story. Read it here in
Here's the link to Elvis and The Pope: Part Two
http://revmaddog1948.blogspot.com/2012/04/elvis-and-pope-part-two.html
