I was actually in Tupelo Mississippi, a graduate student at Mississippi State! I was involved over in field research just outside of Tupelo.
I was with a group of graduate students doing round the clock creek samples of fish, water chemistry and benthic (bottom dwelling) Arthropods.
In between samplings we hung out in a crowded dive bar on the Main Street. The bar had standing room only, all broadcasting was preempted by coverage of Elvis’s death. Everyone was glued to the tiny single TV in the bar, and people were openly weeping.
I was 22 years old, I’ll never forget that very sad time in Tupelo.
Working a summer job doing Aluminum Siding and Gutter installations in Muscatine Iowa.
There were 2 or 3 crews and we’d come in at the end of the day to unload scrap and park the company trucks. Old Man Fxxxxx (to be differentiated from his son with the same first name) who had started the business but largely turned it over to his son and son-in-law - always came out to make sure we didn’t shirk off any of the scrap aluminum into the debris pile - is the one who broke the news to us.
I also remember my first nephew was born that same day or maybe the next. I wondered if maybe he’d be the reincarnation of Elvis, but really was kind of nerdy. Good kid, but no ‘cool’ quotient.