A portrait of ‘Elvis’

Residents of Greer are remembering one of their own hidden treasures.

David Deane, better known as “Elvis” by many, walked the streets of Greer for many years, adopting the likeness of the “King” in his kindness, giving and entertainment.

“He knew people everywhere,” said Michael Joe Harvell, Pastor of Grace Place. “He considered everyone a friend.”

Born on May 17, Elvis grew up in a suburb of Miami as the second oldest of four brothers. In 2000, Bill Deane, one of his younger brothers, moved their family from Florida to Greer.

Elvis regularly strolled Highway 14, but changed his route to the downtown area in recent years.

“I don’t know how many miles he walked,” Harvell said.

“He would walk from Greer all the way to Taylors,” said his youngest brother Don.

“These last few years, he was in excellent health,” Bill said. “He would probably walk four to eight miles a day.”

If rain came, Elvis would catch a ride to church with Harvell or one of his brothers.

“He enjoyed going to different churches, but he gravitated mostly to Grace Place,” Bill said. “People accepted him.”

“Elvis loved to sing,” Harvell said. “And he loved to sing loud. I would get beside him and try to harmonize. He made a joyful noise.”

He sang solo hymns on stage at Grace Place, but also enjoyed Presley’s favorites.

When Elvis sang karaoke, “he came alive. He was somebody,” Bill said. “Personally, I never thought he could carry a note, but that didn’t stop him.”
“He loved his karaoke at the Village Bar & Grill,” Bill said. “They are very special people.”

Friends become family
Melody Peterson, owner of the Village Bar & Grill for 15 years, and her mother took Elvis to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We had a wonderful, great time,” Peterson said.

“Elvis came into my place 15 years ago or 16 years ago,” Peterson said. “He’d sit down and I didn’t know who he was. I said, ‘what can I help you with?’ and ‘what is your name?’”

“He said, ‘well, you can call me Evel Knievel or you can call me Elvis,’” Peterson said. “I said, ‘I guess I’ll name you Elvis.’”

“We called him Elvis ever since—everyone in Greer,” Peterson said. “He became a very good friend of mine.”

As their friendship grew, Peterson offered Elvis the chance to help her.

“He would help me wash dishes,” Peterson said. “He would help me run errands. He would help me do anything that I asked him.”

“He was a very giving person,” Peterson said. “All the money that he made from working for me, he would go buy somebody in Greer something with it.”

Peterson shared how Elvis called her every day, and she took him out to eat on his birthday.

“He loved everyone,” Peterson said, “and everyone in Greer knew him from coming to The Village and walking in Greer and being good to everyone.”

“He was so close to her,” Bill said. “He used to call her ‘sister.’”

Elvis owned his own Elvis Presley costume complete with the wig and sunglasses, Harvell said.

“He loved to impersonate Elvis. His favorite thing to do was to sing a few bars of one of Elvis’ songs, then strike a pose.”

Elvis also liked jewelry, lighters, watches and stuff with Harley-Davidson on it, Harvell said, but his prized possessions, “he wore a pair of Carhartt overalls. He had a Carhartt jacket he wore pretty much all winter. He was very proud of those.”

Elvis saw himself as an entertainer, Harvell said. “He had a little smile he would get on his face when he saw he was making that connection. He kept things interesting. He kept you on your toes.”

Harvell liked to joke with Elvis by answering the phone using different voices, Harvell said. “He wasn’t ever quite sure, was it me or was I playing another one on him.”

The next time they saw each other, Harvell would use that same voice, and Elvis would recognize him.

Harvell had last spoken on the phone to Elvis in Spanish and had looked forward to speaking Spanish in person, “but I never got that chance.”

At around 8:40 a.m. last Wednesday, Elvis, who was a mental health patient, walked in front of a Norfolk Southern train in downtown Greer.

Bill stopped by Grace Place to let Harvell know what had happened. A volunteer was there, and they called Harvell, who was on the Interstate on his way to Greer.

“I cried,” Harvell said, knowing life would never be the same without his friend.

Harvell first met Elvis at McDonalds 16 years ago. He sat in a booth, and Elvis came over. Harvell invited Elvis to join him, and they started talking. Elvis introduced himself as Elvis. Later, Harvell learned his real name.

Harvell knew him as an acquaintance first. Then, Elvis came to Grace Place, and Harvell became his pastor. As they spent more time together, their friendship grew until Elvis became like family to Harvell.

“He gave me way more than I ever did for him,” Harvell said. “He was a giver.”

One time, Elvis gave Harvell a full-sized stand-up of Elvis. From then on, Elvis would ask, “You still got Elvis?”

Harvell said he does still have Elvis.

“He was always looking to give something to someone else,” Harvell said, whether that gift was advice, a blessing, encouragement or a pat on the back.

Elvis was always teaching, Harvell said. He talked to Harvell’s two daughters like they were his little sisters, “Listen to your daddy.” He called himself “big brother Elvis.” Elvis had received good teaching from his dad, and he passed it on.

Elvis’ father, a transport pilot in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, passed away from Alzheimer’s disease in 2004, and Elvis’ mother passed away in 2008.

“It was an honor taking care of my parents,” Bill said. “My two brothers never left home. Elvis was a mental health patient. They took care of us, and now we took care of them.”

Daredevil
As a boy, Elvis played football, baseball and basketball, Bill said. “He was always athletic.”

“We grew up in a different time where neighborhoods were communities, and everybody knew each other,” Bill said. “We grew up together.”

“Elvis took a liking to surfing,” Bill said. He would travel to South Beach before the beach became what it is today.

“Elvis always had a flair for getting attention,” Bill said.

“He was a daredevil,” Harvell said.

Elvis also “got all wrapped up” in Evel Knievel, Bill said, and became known as “Evil Dave” to his friends.

“He would practice jumping small mounds,” with his dirt bike, Bill said. “He had his own little outfit. He was a character.”

One time, Elvis built an eight-foot wall in the street and lit the wall on fire. Then, he crashed through the wall with his bike.

“I was standing right next to the wall,” Bill said. “I didn’t know if he was going to get injured.”

Elvis had called the news media beforehand, Bill said, and police showed up to say, “you can’t do this.” Elvis said, okay. Their mom never knew.

Early in his life, Elvis got involved with some substance abuse, which he overcame, Harvell said.

Elvis worked part-time when someone would provide a job he could do, but without a full-time job, “Elvis had a lot of time on his hands,” Bill said.

“There were years he got mixed up with drugs.”

“He stopped on his own,” Bill said. “He decided it was time for a change.”

 “He’s been clean for 10 years,” said Don.

A few years back, Elvis went to the hospital with pneumonia, Harvell said, and Harvell visited him there. Elvis never forgot.

“I thought I was going to lose him that day,” Harvell said.

“He was lucky to survive that,” Bill said.

“There were some great people over there,” Bill said of the nurses and doctors in Travelers Rest and with the Greenville Hospital System.

After Elvis recovered, he returned—dressed as Elvis—to say thank you and to visit with other patients.

“That was heart-wrenching,” Bill said. “He touched a lot of people’s lives.”

Last Friday, a lady brought a pie to Elvis’ brothers and shared how Elvis had influenced her to stop doing drugs, Bill said.

“If he could do it, anybody could do it,” Bill said. “He quit all his shenanigans and turned around. I was so proud of him.”

“With all his limitations, he wasn’t going to slow down and let any of that get in his way,” Bill said. “Elvis used to drive, but when we got up here, we didn’t want him to drive.”

Bill explained how they were concerned about Elvis being able to react quickly enough. When Elvis walked, he visited his friends in restaurants, stores and other places around Greer. Harvell said he has memories of Elvis all over Greer.

“He had a knack or ability to talk to anybody,” Bill said. “I attribute that to my parents.”

Elvis attended public school but was not treated different. He was socialized, Bill said. “That later turned out to be a wonderful thing.”

Elvis had gone to the doctor’s two days before, and he had an appointment at 2:30 p.m. on July 7 at mental health.

“A lot of people miss him,” Bill said. “Everybody’s special no matter what your limitations are. We’re all here for a reason. Elvis had a lot of patience with people who were not kind to him. He was always gentle and giving.”

“He really wanted to make life better for people,” Harvell said. “That was just his heart. He was always trying to encourage, be a blessing and lift people up.”

“I think Greer has a lot of—what I call—hidden treasures in people,” Harvell said. “When you really get to know them and their heart, they’re very special and very sweet, and they make life richer, and Greer really does seem to be gifted with a lot of those—what I call—hidden treasures. Some are celebrated and some are ignored.”

For Harvell, every room at Grace Place has a memory with Elvis, who would drop by to top off his tea and follow Harvell as he went about his work.

A memorial service will be held at Grace Place Church this Sunday, July 17, 2016, at  2 p.m.

In memory of Elvis, Bill created a Facebook group called Remembering David “Elvis” Deane “to announce memorial services and to allow people to express their sentiments or share their stories of Elvis with others,” Bill said.

kaelyn@greercitizen.com | 877-2076