On June 26, 1955, Elvis performed at the Slavonian Lodge, Biloxi, Mississippi, where he, Scotty and Bill opened the new club with air-conditioning to a sell-out crowd. Elvis noticed June when she was coming out of the ladies room at half time at of one of his shows.
They struck up a conversation… “You’re not leaving are you?” Elvis inquired anxiously. “No, I’m just going to sit down.” “I’d like to see you after the show,” Elvis announced. “Why don’t you show me the town?”
“Well there isn’t much to see in Biloxi,” June countered. “I don’t care,” Elvis replied. “Just show me what there is.” Still dripping with perspiration after gyrating wildly on stage in what would become his trademark pelvis-thrusting style, Elvis picked June up in front of the theatre that night in his 1955 pink-and-white Ford Crown Victoria.
“He said he wanted to change, so we drove to his motel and I waited in the car while he ran in,” says June. “We took in some floor shows and then talked until daylight. At dawn Elvis kissed me for the first time.” “It was the most memorable date I had with Elvis. We spent four hours parked outside my house. He suggested we see the sun rise together, but I told him I’d have to go if my mother’s bedroom light came on. As dawn broke, Elvis kissed me, ever so gently. Then he poured out his heart to me and told me about his twin brother.” June says it was clear from that first date that Elvis had a deep love for his family. He told her how his mother had named his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon because she didn’t want a grave that simply read Baby Boy Presley. But what struck June most about Elvis was how much he was amazed at his own success. 
‘One of the questions I’m always asked is, “Did you sleep with Elvis?”,’ says June Juanico, the woman the star nearly married in 1956. ‘I tell ‘em no.’ Juanico talks of the couple making love in ‘their own special way’, of Elvis saying he wanted the first time to be special and of their agreement to wait until they were married. ‘There were a lot of virgins about in those days.’
‘Elvis was a very sensitive person, very tender, but on the outside he was very macho,’ she says. An outspoken and feisty teenager, June recalls a time when she stood up to Elvis in front of his band of hangers-on, who even then were beginning to accompany him everywhere. He grabbed her arm, took her into the bathroom and declared: ‘Look, you are so right, I am really sorry.’ He kept her there for five minutes, then swaggered out, his image intact.
The couple dated throughout 1956. Elvis would serenade June with the soulful ballad, IS IT SO STRANGE. “I loved that song,” recalls June. “So I asked Elvis to record it. just for me. The verse, ‘Is it so strange, I have no eyes for any other girl.’ still has a special meaning for me till this very day.” When Elvis recorded that song, he called the album, JUST FOR YOU. While Elvis and his ‘devil music’ were becoming the center of controversy, Hollywood was clamouring to get a piece of the action. “Elvis always talked about wanting to be in the movies,” says June.
On one of his frequent returns to Memphis, Elvis invited June home to meet his parents. For two weeks she shared his life. Friends dropped by, and Gladys was always ready with a Southern-style meal. Elvis wanted to hire servants, but Gladys wouldn’t hear of it. “Gladys was happy as punch just to cook because Elvis had outfitted the kitchen with every conceivable appliance,” says June.
Vernon (Elvis’ father) just sat around reading the newspaper. “Vernon wasn’t a man of many words, but Gladys talked non-stop about Elvis and how shy he was as a child. “She worried about his future. She hoped she had brought his up right, so he could put a handle on his fame.” Gladys and June shared a mutual admiration which bonded into more than friendship. Gladys insisted that June use her first name – “Mrs Presley just don’t sound right, we being as close as family,” she would say. “So, I called her Lovey, a derivation of her middle name Love. She thought was special.”
In March of 1957, June made the most crucial decision of her life. “I couldn’t wait in the wings while Elvis got on with his career,” she says. “I said good bye to Elvis because he broke his vow – he was supposed to be true to me. It just didn’t work out that way.” “There was no one in particular in his life then, but I knew Elvis was not being true to me. We parted friends,” says June. Elvis told June she would always be welcome in his home, but for the next six years she had no contact with him as she pieced her life back together. It was not until 1963 that June plucked up the courage to face Elvis again.
She drove to Memphis to catch Elvis at Graceland, but Elvis was not home. Elvis’ uncle, Vester Presley told her Elvis was at the local movie theatre. “The moment I entered the theatre I picked Elvis in the crowd. He was sitting up front. Priscilla was sitting next to him,” June recalls. “Elvis was so surprised to see me, he jumped out of his seat and gave me a big bear-hug.” “Strange that Elvis introduced me to the rest of his entourage, but not to Priscilla.” “Priscilla didn’t even look my way. She kept her eyed focused on the screen the whole time. I guess, she was already used to girls falling about Elvis.”
The last time June saw Elvis, was August, 1969 in Las Vegas. No longer under contract to Hollywood, Elvis took on the new challenge performing live. He went on a diet. Reduced his drug intake. And walked to stage looking more handsome than ever. For the next seven years, the mature, Elvis poured out his heart and soul to the screaming fans – always to a packed house. “Elvis told me he was being true to himself by performing before a live audience again,” recalls June. “I was never much of a screaming fan, but that night brought back old memories, and I felt the need to scream…” 
Seeing Elvis in 1969, June never dreamed that a mere 8 years later Elvis Presley would become caricature of his former self. Tears spring to her eyes and her voice drops to a whisper as she remembers the day, 16 years ago, that Elvis died. “For years I couldn’t talk about Elvis. But now with all that ugly stuff being written about Elvis, I have the need to set the record straight,” says June.
She is writing her story, IN THE TWILIGHT OF MEMORY. The title is from a line in THE PROPHET. “If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more. We shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.” The book that June gave to Elvis in 1957 was found after his death, on his bedside table at Graceland. It is still there to this day.
Did Elvis love June? Probably but not in any long term forever way. The timeline here crosses over when he was still dating Dixie. She was in Memphis and June was in Biloxi. I believe we’ll find as we explore this intriguing subject further that there are other women lurking in the shadows here as well at the same time. So no, Elvis did not feel true unconditional love for June although I believe she did for him. After all, what’s not to love?
reticent to speak of their affairs with him. I want to know why. It’s established that he wasn’t the greatest lover in the world but it’s also accepted that he could romance your pants off in seconds flat! Why than are the women who loved Elvis so tight lipped?
