By Jan Penton Miller
Columnist
My maiden aunt, Sarah Lee Ball, invited several of my girl cousins and me to visit her
in Chevy Chase, Maryland. We traveled by train, and I remember hearing the clickety
clack of the rails for a while after we reached our destination.
Aunt Sarah Lee retired from teaching public school music in Mississippi before
continuing her career as director of public school music in the Chevy Chase area. She
always had stories to tell of her childhood, which included my dad, and I loved
hearing them.
Like my Mama Ball before her Aunt Sarah Lee was a wonderful pianist. My daddy
and all the other children in the family spent many hours around the piano singing.
During the lean years of the depression the Ball young folks procured a hall,
practiced their music, and charged admission. I always thought that was a unique
and somewhat ingenious way to make money.
I wish that I had more details of exactly where and how they cooked this little
venture up, but I think they did it on more than one occasion. I’m pretty sure it was a
dance and not just a musical event, but I never wrote the details down when Aunt
Sarah Lee told me this story of their youth.
This week a group from Picayune First traveled to Laurel on Amtrak. This was my
only trip on a train since my journey as a young teenager, and I was pleasantly
surprised at how roomy and comfortable the seating was. Several of the ladies
toured the train while others of us chatted the time away.
The report from those who took the tour was very favorable so I think a longer train
trip will be in my not so distant future. It’s always fun to do new things and I was
very interested in the local history stories that one of my traveling companions
shared.
My story of my dad and his siblings is vague and without much detail at this point.
Think about it; all your cool stories of your own family will be lost or morph into
something else if someone doesn’t take the time to write them. I suppose some don’t
care one way or another, but I think it’s pretty awesome to have recorded family
history.
My cousin, Francis, is all about our genealogy. She knows our family history from
many generations ago, and is in the Daughters of the American Revolution. That’s
cool, but what I enjoy most is hearing and writing the personal stories. If you have

stories you would like for your grandchildren to know, get out a pen and notebook
or your computer and write them.
The perspective changes from person to person even if they are retelling the same
story.
I have never seen this to be truer than right now in our election process. I can
actually watch a speech or rally live only to later hear what our news media reports.
It is different from what I heard.
Crazy times.