Sawatsky Sign-Off: Senior inspired by Elvis, war experience to spread joy with sea glass [Video]

SIDNEY, B.C. –

Although she’s perpetually playing Presley’s music, and collecting all sorts of the The King’s things, Geraldine Bruckel didn’t become an Elvis fan until he started unexpectedly appearing in her dreams.

“(Elvis) would say, ‘Come on, baby,’” Geraldine smiles, imitating Presley’s iconic southern drawl. “And I thought, ‘Wow!’ And I woke up.’”

Geraldine says the dreams felt so comforting, she was inspired to paint a life-size picture of him.

“He almost lives, you know!” Geraldine says.

To appreciate how Geraldine actually lived, she shows the only photograph that survived her past.

“That’s me here,” Geraldine says, pointing to a black-and-white picture of a two-year-old surrounded by her family.

It was taken in the former Dutch West Indies, before the Second World War.

Geraldine says that a year later, she and her family were forced from their home, separated from each other, and confined to a concentration camp.

“You’re always hungry,” Geraldine recalls. “You’re going to look for food …