My grandparents Ruben Cleatus Brian and Della Jane McBee Burnett lived in Sharps Chapel and the CCC is actually how my mom and dad met. My Aunt married Louis Henry Ditmore who was also in the CCC's . My dads name is Harold A. Sanford. He was raised in Robertson County, Tennessee.
Dad left the CCC, for the Army during WWII, was stationed in CA and was shipped overseas, and ended up in Okinawa. Mom told me recently that dad was only a few foxholes from Ernie Pyle when he was killed. Dad and mom settled in East Tennessee and have lived there ever since . Dad's occupation was a heavy duty construction welder and has designed overhead cranes and earth moving
equipment buckets. He ran a welding shop at one time in Union County, TN. Dad Passed away on March 1, 1999.
My mother's father, Rubin Cleatus Burnett wrote a song about the Norris Dam in the early 30s as he was saddened over moving family graves.
The Song of the Cove Creek Dam
ended up in the Kirkland
Collection and the Library of Congress. When asked what good the CCC had done, Papo replied it gave him two good sons-in-law.
My dad was considered by many a Master Gardener.. He tremendously enjoyed his vegetable garden and he always had a beautiful garden virtually weed free, with rows planted in a precise straight lines. He would plant sweet corn two to three weeks apart and raised just about every vegetable imaginable. He would trellis pole beans and when mature, you could put your hands in the vines and
grab handfuls at a time. He also planted pole beans in his sweet corn and would plant double- wide rows of bush beans to conserve space which he by no means needed. Dad turned the red clay soil in his garden over the years to a rich fertile soil by continuous composting. At either end of the garden was always a bucket or two turned upside down where we would sit look at his garden and talk. At one end by the mulch pile was a
log and dad said that was his altar where he would talk with God, his higher power, and thank him for giving him the wisdom knowledge and health to plant and work his garden. Mom canned and froze all the vegetables they would need for years and they gave away the rest,. At some point mom said enough! I am tired of freezing and canning but it did not slow dad down. On one occasion he litterly crashed the kitchen
while canning his sugar beets, but they were delicious.
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Dad enjoyed spending time with his grandkids and was also a Kentucky Colonel playing Santa Claus for several years in local stores and would visit nursing homes. One of dad's greatest accomplishments in my opinion was the last 26 years of his life. He was actively involved and dedicated to A.A. in Tennessee. He visited prisons throughout Tennessee for several years, delivering the
message of the AA program to inmates.
