Jerry Schilling Recalls Final Days with Lisa Marie Presley at Memorial: 'I Will Always Love You'

Elvis Presley's best friend Jerry Schilling paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley on Sunday morning at Graceland.

During a funny and moving speech, the talent manager, who was a member of Elvis' Memphis Mafia, recalled his first moments with a baby Lisa Marie — as well as his final days with the singer.

"Me and a girl named 'Memphis.' I always call Lisa Memphis. She had that attitude. And she always called me Jerry Schilling, always in that cadence. Her son Ben ... did the same thing. Jerry Schilling?" said Schilling, 80, drawing laughs from the audience.

Ahead of Lisa Marie's birth in 1968, Schilling recalls he was just about to leave Elvis and Priscilla Presley's home.

"He looked at me and he said, 'You're not gonna stay for the birth of our daughter?' I said, 'I guess I will!' So I was here until Feb. 1," he said, chuckling.

Jason Kempin/Getty Jerry Schilling

RELATED: Lisa Marie Presley's Loved Ones — Priscilla, Daughters, Austin Butler and More — Attend Memorial

Schilling said they "spent a lot of time together" during Lisa Marie's childhood and even offered her a job when she turned 18 or 19.

"She became my secretary, and any time I said that, she'd always correct me: 'I'm your assistant!'" recalled Schilling, who later managed Lisa Marie's career. "She had many responsibilities, one of which was to answer all the phone calls that would come in to me. Every couple of weeks, she would come in with a very disgruntled look on her face: 'Somebody else wants to talk to you about Lisa Marie.' They had no idea they were talking to her on the phone!"

Schilling has remained close to the entire Presley family since Elvis' death, and said he was "honored and proud" to perform at "Lisa's wedding, Riley and Ben's wedding, more recently, Navarone," wedding — and shared that his nickname within the family is "Rev. J."

RELATED: Lisa Marie Presley Said She 'Had a Lot to Do Still' During Final Visit to Son's Grave Before Her Death

"I would like to end with, recently on a Sunday afternoon, after she had left Memphis on her father's 88th birthday, she asked me if I would walk her on the red carpet to the Golden Globes the following Tuesday," said Schilling. "Afterwards, as we walked to the car, the last thing she said to me was, 'Jerry Schilling, I love you.' As I was in the hospital with her father when Priscilla was giving birth, I was at the hospital with her mother when she left us. Memphis, I will always love you."

The Grosby Group / BACKGRID Jerry Schilling and Lisa Marie Presley earlier this month

On Jan. 12, Presley was rushed to the hospital for a possible cardiac arrest. Hours later, Priscilla confirmed in a statement the death of her and Elvis' only child together at 54.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," said Priscilla in a statement.