Ancestry and Early Life
Priscilla's grandfather, Albert Henry Iversen, emigrated from Egersund in Norway to the United States in the beginning of the 1900s. He married Lorraine Davis, who was of Scots-Irish and English descent. They had three children: Albert Jr. (March 1922), James Richard (March 1924) and Anna Lillian Iversen (March 1926). Later she was called, or her name was changed to, Ann. She was called Rooney (short for Annie Rooney) as a child. At the age of 19, she gave birth to Priscilla. They both still have cousins in Norway. In a letter to the City Hall of Egersund, Ann asked for information about their relatives, and wrote that Priscilla was interested in knowing about them; Priscilla's parents then visited family members in Norway in 1992.
Priscilla has a square named after her in Egersund – Priscilla Presleys plass. When she was told about this tribute being planned, by a visiting Norwegian relative (summer 2007), and asked what she thought, she answered: "Oh, it's marvellous!". The area is in the street outside the house where her grandfather was born in 1899, and lived. Priscilla and her family were invited by the Lord Mayor of Egersund to the opening ceremony of Priscilla Presleys plass, which took place August 23, 2008, but were unable to go due to Lisa Marie's being pregnant.
Priscilla's biological father was US Navy pilot James Wagner. His parents were Kathryn and Harold Wagner. On August 10, 1944, at the age of 23, he married Priscilla's mother; they had been dating for more than three years. He was killed in a plane crash while returning home on leave when Priscilla was six months old. When Priscilla discovered this "..family secret..." whilst rummaging through an old wooden box of family keepsakes, she was encouraged by her mother to keep it from the other children as she feared it would "...endanger our family closeness...".
In 1948 her mother met a United States Air Force officer named Paul Beaulieu, from Quebec. The couple were married within a year. Beaulieu took over the raising of Priscilla, and was the only father she would ever know. Over the next few years Priscilla grew up quickly, helping to care for the growing family as her father's Air Force career moved them from Connecticut to New Mexico to Maine. In her own words, she described herself during this period as "...a shy, pretty little girl unhappily accustomed to moving from base to base every two or three years." Priscilla later recalled that she felt uncomfortable moving so often because she never knew if she could make friends for life, or even if she would fit in with the new people she met on each move.
In 1956, the Beaulieus moved to and settled in Austin, Texas, but soon her father was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany. Priscilla was "..crushed.." by this news, and after finishing Junior High her fears of leaving her friends behind and making new ones were once again at the forefront of her mind.
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