Words from our elders …

"Country Living"
- Narrated by Ben McClain

Sylvia Milani McClain

"Heaven's Grocery Store"
- Narrated by Ben McClain

1999

Uncle Ben McClain and Sylvia Milani McClain

While visiting home in December, 1999. Cousin Michael and I sat down with our grandmother with one of those little mini tape recorders and we recorded our conversation.

Uncle Ben, her eldest child (Mike’s Dad) also gave us a studio tape recording of spoken words of himself that book-end this video. He passed soon after that.

When Granny passed in 2002, she had out-lived three of her eight children.

Dusting off those old recordings, I was able to put this together for the surviving family members on here. I don't think anyone has tape or CD players anymore.

It’s nice to hear their voice again today amongst all this noise.

Transcript:

Country Living

Narrated by Ben McClain

Before I get so doggone old that I can do little more than dream.

I'm gonna get out of this ol' big town and far from the world's mainstream.

This melting pot that's called a city ... well it's done got the best of me.

I feel like we're living in a great big cage And there ain't nobody that can find the key.

To fight this traffic, the tensions, taxes and crime ... Well it's not what I call living friends. We're simply putting in our time.

So I'm going to go back to the country folks ... That is, if there's any country left anymore.

But you know? The last time I went back to see my home place? Well there sat a big discount store.

Yeah, I want to go back to a more peaceful life where things are kinda nice and quiet.

The loudest voice I want to hear is an old whippoorwill call at night.

I'm gonna build me a nice little place beside a clear and cool running stream and do lots and lots of fishing or maybe just doze and dream.

It don't have to be a fancy showplace with big columns and a swimming pool out back just so there's some peace and contentment there ...why, I'd settle for a two room shack.

Of course, it be nice if the shack had a front porch and one of them old timey swings and a pot-bellied stove and an old tin roof so you could sleep like a baby when it rains.

Oh and when I go fishing, I don't need one of those fancy rods and a big reel all decorated in gold. Just give me a hook, line and a sinker and I'll find me an old cane poll.

And when the first good frost is on the ground and the persimmons are getting dark and ripe, Gimme an old hound dog that's lean as a rail. One that's full of life and fight.

I want to sit all huddled by a campfire underneath a cool new autumn moon and just gaze contently into the fire while the old hound's out treeing a coon.

And last of all, I want to go back to an old country church where everybody smiles and says "How do you do?"

And when you leave their friend, well ... you have no doubt that the good lord was in attendance too.

Now I'm real sure there are some mighty nice folks that really like this big city living, but I sure do see a lot of taking going on and there's a whole lot more joy in giving.

But I could go on forever and ever and you'd probably wouldn't understand ...

That is unless you were born way out in the country and raised there to be a man.

Heaven's Grocery Store

"Heaven's Grocery Store" by Ron DeMarco

Narrated by Ben McClain

I was strolling down life's highway not so very long ago.

One day I saw a sign that read, "Heaven's Grocery Store." As I got a little closer, the door opened wide, and I found myself standing inside.

I saw a host of ANGELS. They were standing everywhere. One handed me a basket and said, "My Child, shop with care."

Everything a human needed was in that grocery store. And if you couldn't carry it all, you could come back the next day for more.

First, I got some PATIENCE. LOVE was in the same row. Further down was UNDERSTANDING, you need that everywhere you go.

I got a box or two of WISDOM, a bag or two of FAITH. I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST, for it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE TO HELP ME RUN THIS RACE. By then my basket was getting full, but I remembered I needed some GRACE.

I didn't forget SALVATION, for SALVATION was free. So I tried to get enough of that to save both you and me.

Then I started up to the counter to pay my grocery bill. For I thought I had everything to do the MASTER'S will.

As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER; and I just had to put that in, for I knew when I stepped outside, I would run into sin.

PEACE and JOY were plentiful; they were last on the shelf. SONG and PRAISE were hanging near, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel, "Now, how much do I owe?"

He smiled again and said, "MY CHILD, JESUS PAID YOUR BILL A LONG, LONG TIME AGO."

By Ron DeMarco

This is a compilation of interviews taken by several of Sylvia Roma Milani McClain's children and grandchildren. We have documented her life story in honor of her most beautiful and inspirational spirit. We are so grateful to have witnessed her passion for life, experienced her precious love, and gained wisdom from the many other life lessons that our dear mother ... grandmother ... friend, Sylvia has so richly blessed us with.

When and where were you born?

I was born in 1909 in a little town called Ball Ground, Georgia, where the Indians first played baseball. I was very small. My family had suffered with Tuberculosis. My mother's name was Mamie Byers Milani. She was 31 years of age and I was only two months old when she passed away. A neighbor had just given birth to a child of her own and she nursed me when my mother was gone.

What was the cause of your mother's death?

Tuberculosis, and the doctors said I couldn't live...told my grandmother to be good to me, said the little thing can't live. I will have my 9]s birthday on October 31st. 2000, this very year (chuckle).

Do you remember very much about your grandmother that raised you?

OH, I REMEMBER HER WITH ALL MY HEART! She was an angel from the first - God love her. "Thank you Lord for giving me an angel." I lost my mother, but i was fortunate to come by that angel. She raised my two brothers and me on a Civil War pension. Grandpa had already passed away. So I was born and raised in that little town of Ball Ground and went to school there and grew up there, and so did my brothers.

What was your grandmother's name?

Ms. Ellie Byers, she was a Carpenter before she married Grandpa Byers.

What kind of things did you learn from her?

Oh, I slept with her till I left home (chuckle) and she'd reach over and she'd pet me to see if I was covered up in the winter time, you know. And she would bake different little pies or things that she knew that I liked.

What was your favorite food when you were a little girl?

Believe it or not, my favorite thing was buttermilk and cornbread (laughter). Of course we had vegetables too, when I'd take a notion to eat them. She made beans, and corn, and beets, onions, you name it.

So your Grandmother Byers had a garden?

Um hum, and she had a little orchard. She had peaches and apples. That way you could go out and get what you wanted.

What do you remember about your Grandfather Byers?

Well, we had a great big picture of him on this big ole desk. It was painted black and the lid would come up and back down. It had a back to it with drawers in it, with a big ole blank space up there and a picture of Grandpa Byers. He was handsome, even back in that time. He had black hair and a black mustache and I used to go there and stand in front of that desk and just look at him.

Was he Italian?

No. His name was Grandpa Adolphus Byers.

Where does the Italian in the family come from?

My mother married Benimiano Milani. He was from Carrera, Italy. He was a stone carver.

How did your mother meet him?

My mother went to Nelson, Georgia where she worked for an aunt who had a business where she sold sandwiches and tobacco and different things to the men that worked in this great big marble mill. All those men would come out to this little place of business to buy things to eat. She had these old fashion little Coca Cola tables and chairs in her place and they would come out and she would have homemade sandwiches that she had made and she would feed em and they'd get cigars and different little things. If was Aunt Ida Lafferty's little place and my mother went there to help her out. Anyway, those men would come out there and say hello to "Aunt Ida" and everything. Well, her husband, Uncle Jim Lafferty was Irish and he heard those men calling her Aunt Ida but he would say, "All right now Aunt Tiddie" (laughter). Those men got to where they'd come in and they'd say, "Hello, Aunt Tiddie," mocking Uncle Jim (laughter).

So it was your grandmother that took care of you when your mother died?

Um hum. My grandmother took my two brothers and me and raised us in that little town of Ball Ground, Georgia. When I was a teenager, I came to Knoxville to live with my brother who had moved up here. He was married. I have two whole brothers (Ben and Gino) and I have three half brothers (Nino, Vosco, Albert), and two half-sisters. We had different mothers.

What was your relationship like with your brothers?

Oh, we were real close. Ben took care of me just like he was my father. He said, nobody's going to ever bother my little sister (chuckle).

Is he still living?

No, and I forgot what year it was when he died. I'd have to go back and look in my book. He was buried in Chicago and brother Gino, he settled in Denver, Colorado. He married and passed away out there and that's where he's buried.

Have all your brothers died?

Yeah. Gets me to thinking about it. I got all kinds of kinfolks that's buried in one cemetery. Aunts and all that, cousins.

I want to be buried out here by your house Granny.

Well, I had hoped that my precious son, Ben would want to be buried there, but that's a nice place where they buried him. Brother Ben Milani was buried in Chicago. He lived up there a long time. He was married a second time.

What do you remember about your father?

Well, my father was Benimiano Milani. He was short, thin, and handsome. He was a "ladies man" and was very polite to women. He came to this country when he was a young man and he went to work at a big marble mill in Nelson, Georgia and that's where he met my mother. I forgot the name of the mill but it was a huge marble mill. He carved outstanding pieces that were shipped to different countries. I've got a book that's got his name in it, when he came to this country and such.

How many times was your dad married?

Five, I think. His first wife lived in Italy. Her name was Olympia and they had a son and daughter, Albert and Olga. His second wife was my mother, Mamie Byers, and she had me and Ben and Gino. Daddy's third wife was Nancy Revis. She had a son named Vosco. His fourth wife was Mae Smith and they didn't have children. And Carrie Faucet was his fifth wife and they had a son named Nino.

Is your dad the famous artist that sculpted the eagles on the Knoxville downtown post office?

No, my brother Albert did that. I have a picture of it. Albert carved many pieces for our country. He carved a replica of Michelangelo's "Head of David" that was so near perfect that the museums in this country wanted him to donate it for posterity. And my daddy, he did, I don't how many pieces. He'd carve them here in our country and they'd ship them off. So, many people found out about him and wanted him to do work for them. One of the University of Tennessee's football coaches had a brother that was killed at a railroad crossing and they had heard about Albert doing all that carving that was so wonderful, and so they went to him and he did it all for nothing for them. And he had valued it at - oh, many thousands of dollars, I forget how much. I have a newspaper article on that, somewhere.

What was your father like?

He was kinda slow going, and a good stone carver. He knew all about marble, and he called me his "Ceilvya" (chuckle). "My Ceilvya" he'd say, come here (when he wanted to show me to somebody) and he'd reach and get my hands and hold his thumbs up and say I inherited his thumbs. He'd say, "I no loose my Ceilvya" and he'd show these thumbs. I said, Dad, don't show those ole ugly thumbs. He'd say, I think I like em, and he'd reach down and kiss them.

Sounds like he loved you a lot.

He loved his Ceilvya. He had another daughter over in Italy. I never did see her. I saw her picture. She was kind of tall. The picture was made sideways and she had coal black hair and it came down her back, plumb to the floor and it turned up in a little curve at the floor. And I'd look at her and say, that's my sister, she was pretty. Her name was Olga. Daddy got a letter, I can remember, and he took that letter and went down in his garden, and I said I wonder what daddy's letter's about. So I eased out and went down there and he was at the back end of his garden sitting on a rock and reading it. He had got a letter, etched in black, that his daughter had been killed, abused by her husband. And big tears were just going down his face. Of course, I never did see her or know her, but little Olga was her name. Albert was her real brother and he and I are half sibilings.

So your father had two daughters and five sons?

Um hum. Me and Olga and Albert, Benimiano, Gino, Vosco and Nino. And grandmother took my two brothers and me and raised us right there in Ball Ground where we went to school.

Did your dad live in Ball Ground too?

Yeah, he was there for a while but he came on up to Knoxville and settled here.

How often did you get to see him?

Well, when he lived there close to Ball Ground, I would go over to spend a week with him, or all night - or however long I wanted to stay, and he would go to work at the marble mill. He had married a young woman, and her name was Mae Smith. She was from way down in Georgia somewhere, I forget exactly where it was.

What was she like?

Come to find out she took dope. He tried to send her to different places to cure her and so he thought he had her straightened out. She had come home one evening and told daddy she had a friend and they wanted to go to Atlanta they were going to buy some new clothes or something and said that they'd stay a couple of days and then they'd be back. For daddy, that was all right, you know. Well, the time passed and she came back and he was lying on the bed reading the paper or something and he looked up and the first words she said, well, he could tell she was back on that dope. Oh, it just killed him dead. She'd say something to him, (he'd spent millions of dollars on her, well not millions, but thousands) and he just hung his head and she'd talk to him and he just couldn't answer. Said she'd go in the kitchen and then she'd come back in there and he'd just keep reading his paper. She'd go back in the kitchen stay a minute or two and then she'd come back. The last time she went in the kitchen he said he took his paper and kinda covered his face and I guess he cried. All of a sudden he heard a "bang." He had a gun sitting by his dresser but he didn't notice that she picked it up and she went in the kitchen and she lay down in the floor and took her foot and pulled the trigger and the bullet went right up through here and killed her. Her name was Mae Smith.

And did he marry again after that?

Yeah, he did. He married a country girl. Her name was Ms. Carrie Faucet. She lived in Mills.