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Elvis Presley died 31 years ago this Saturday, but a talk with some of the area’s biggest Elvis fans makes it clear that his music and his life still resonate strongly — even if those fans were just children when he passed on.

Asked to help a reporter find her home in downtown Bangor, Sherry Thomson used a familiar frame of reference: “It’s a small house — kind of like the one Elvis lived in in Tupelo.”

Diane Thompson’s ranch home outside of Bangor looks nothing like the one Elvis grew up on, but her love of The King is no less strong. That is evident by the Elvis-themed room in her home that becomes more crowded by the year.

“People at work tease me often, but they always know what to get me for my birthday or for Christmas,” said Thompson, who works in Dr. Michael Colvin’s Onalaska dental office.

From the looks of her shiny Elvis lunchbox, Thompson doesn’t often take it to her dental assistant job in Onalaska, but it certainly makes a nice addition to the commemorative plates, movies, figurines, buttons and other Elvis items.

“I was only 10 when Elvis died, so I didn’t really understand the significance then,” Thompson said. “But a trip to Graceland reinforced my attitude.”

Thompson’s son is named Aaron (Elvis’ middle name) and, like Elvis, she’s happy to point out, her mom’s name is Gladys, too.

Through Elvis’ music, both Thompson and Thomson seem to have developed a love for a time before they were born.

“I always liked that era — ’57 Chevys are my favorite cars,” Thomson said. “In high school when my girlfriends would come over to play music they would ask ‘Do you think maybe we could work in a little Def Leppard?’ It’s not that I don’t like to or listen to other kinds of music, but I never cared what other people thought — I just knew I liked him.”

Thompson’s Elvis obsession has deep roots in the family. “My husband (Ken) was a fan before I was — he had Elvis tapes in high school and Ken’s dad even saw Elvis at Sawyer Auditorium in La Crosse back in 1956 or ’57,” she said.

Thomson remembers her dad playing Elvis songs on the guitar when she was a little girl. He also had Elvis records that she loved to dance to. Eventually, he gave all those recordings to her.

Thomson was only 5 when Elvis died in 1977, but she couldn’t wait to get the Elvis commemorative stamp issued in 1993 when she was 21.

“I was second in line at the La Crosse post office in front of all these 60-year-old ladies with Elvis earrings and jewelry that lit up. They kept saying to me, ‘You’re kind of young to be standing in line, aren’t you?” she recalled.

That particular stamp, by the way, is still the most popular stamp of all time, with more than 124 million collected.

Like Thompson, Thomson also has an extensive Elvis collection. Hers includes collector quarters, newspaper clippings, dolls, salt and pepper shakers, old 45s, Elvis baseball cards, tapestries and blankets.

She can even spend a little time in the shower each day with Elvis since she’s got an Elvis shower curtain.

Thomson, who works at the Village Inn in Bangor, has been known to wear Elvis shirts to work on occasion (she’s also got an Elvis watch and an Elvis purse and on a day when its raining you might see her keeping dry with an Elvis umbrella).

She and Thompson met one night when Thompson noticed her Elvis shirt and started a conversation.

“When you find someone else who likes Elvis you already have something in common,” Thompson said. “I’ve met so many interesting people and heard so many cool stories that way.”

Both women confess to being obsessed. Asked why the love affair has lasted so long for so many, Thompson, who still listens to Elvis’ music a couple of times a week, tried to explain. “It’s more than his music — he had a certain charisma. I would love to have met him. He started out with nothing; he loved his mother and he sang straight from the heart.”

Thomson also believes that her idol was a special kind of celebrity. “He was genuine, a great guy and just so generous — he would give a stranger a new car,” she said. “I’d love to meet him today and I wouldn’t care if he was in his 70s either — I’ve already told my boyfriend he’d have to back off for a while.”