Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 4 October 2001 — Page 17

The Muncie Times, October 4, 2001, page 17

Meet Mattie Scaife, mother to 18, grandmother to 50

Mrs. Mattie Scaife holds a small vase of flowers as she sits in the living room of her home, a never empty nest.

by Cynthia Lewis Reed “Actions speak louder than words..., Watch me talk,” reads the back of the t-shirt that Mattie Scaife is wearing as she shares her family legacy. She chuckles and says of her far-reaching family, “Well, it must be the Muncie Water.” She is the mother of 18 children, 15 of them still living. From them came at least 50 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren, plus two great-grands in waiting. In society where pressures on the job often steal family time, the Scaife family motto is one where God and family are priorities. The caption beneath a hand-carved family wall plaque, inscribed with the names and birth dates of all her children, says, “Presented as a family rememberance to all those near and dear and also to pronounce our love and respect for each other as a family.” Bom Mattie May Scott, she was married April 16, 1946, in Osceola, Ark., to Leo Scaife Sr. who died in 1997. Scaife said her happy marriage was the kind where her husband was more than a hardworking, dedicated spouse and father. Although she is not really fond of hunting and fishing, she recalls fond memories of how her husband used to love to do those things. “He was the best friend I ever had. I really miss him. If any woman has a caring husband, you really got a best friend. He was a good provider for us. We may not have had much, but none of us ever went hungry or did without

shelter or clothing. And we weren’t on welfare either,” she said. Scaife said that she didn’t have to work outside the home. She chose to work her first job at the Harvest House, formerly owned by the Ross Supermarket family. She was there for 8 years. After that, she worked at the Delaware County Nursing Home for 5 years and then did independent day work for 5 years. “We had it hard bringing up the kids. But one thing we didn’t do is allow them to stay overnight at other people’s homes. And we didn’t do fast food. We had beans, greens, combread, what the people call soul food. And we did just fine...” she said. Early in their marriage, Mr. Scaife worked at a former automotive business called Holmes and Maddox, where he washed cars and did general maintenance and mechanical work. Then he moved on to the local wire mill on East Jackson Street, where he worked nearly 32 years while he continued ministry which began June 29, 1949. When Mr. Scaife started to preach. The couple then purchased their Whitely neighborhood home. The house originally had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen, with no indoor toilet. “We made do,” she said. Scaife said the best thing for a couple to do is communicate with each other and never argue in front of the children. They taught their children about relationships and life. “Whenever we’d disagree on something, my husband and I always believed that if one of us

went out of one door, we’d always come back through the other. You’re going to have ups and downs and if we had problems, we solved them ourselves,” she said. “People nowadays want to have the police and the courtroom solve their problems. That’s cause they don’t have patience to work things out. Nobody wants to sacrifice, they want to start out at the top instead of work their way up from scratch.” Today, when most families break up, Scaife feels that people no longer want to sacrifice for the good of the family. She says that what made her family successful was that as parents, they were willing to do things for their children, instead of for themselves. “All my kids are smart. Fve never had to do without anything. We taught them to trust in each other and not to be jealous. Kids will make a family stick together,” Scaife said. The Scaifes originally lived on Elgin Street, before moving to their Hines Street home. They had three children when they made the move. This panraised 11 children in four rooms, before adding two more rooms to the house. “We didn’t go into debt when we did it either,” she said. “The factories are not promising anything to anyone anymore. We just made it with what we had. If all you have is a bed and a box, you can at least keep it clean.” Scaife knows, as she says, “how to pinch a dollar. People have no business going into debt getting things they really don’t need to have.”

Scaife is a strong advocate of families spending time together. “Every Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and July Fourth we always have a big cookout. I hear people sometimes say that when their kids are gone, they’re changing the lock. “My door is always open. I don’t mind helping my kids when they need it. My children and my grandchildren have been good to me,” she said. She recalls a trip to Portland, Ore., to see one of her grandsons, Bonzi Wells, son of her daughter, Christine Coleman, play for the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers. Until March last year, she had never flown on an airplane. “Now, I love to fly!,” she says. Her dream is to have all 108 of her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren to be able to get together so she could see them all. She hopes that there is a picture

frame big enough to include all of them. For now, there is the custom-made family plaque that hangs in her home. Which reads, “May God bless our family.” The late Rev. Leo Mack Scaife, was born Aug. 27, 1921. Mattie Mae Scott was bom Dec. 1,1927. From that union were bom the following children: Irene May, on Sept. 18, 1949; Erlene May, on Sept. 18,1949; Vicki Ann, on July 29, 1952; Bernice Renee, on Jan. 27, 1955; Barbara Jean, on Oct. 6, 1956; and Christine Scaife, on Aug. 3, 1958. Also Sandra Lynn, on March 19, 1960; Leo Mack, on Sept. 8, 1961; Pamela Jane, Sept. 1,1962; Michael Eugene, Aug. 19, 1964; Wayne Anthony, Oct. 1, 1965; Donald Brian, Aug. 31, 1967; Karla Denise, Nov.20, 1968; Joanne Elizabeth, June 29, 1970; and Robert Darnell, Dec. 18,1973.