By Anne Hershewe

news@joplinglobe.com

The man who chose the small community of Alba as home for a five-star French restaurant, which attracted diners from across the United States, has died at age 78.

Max Givone, the founder of the Old Miners Inn, died on June 11 in Auburndale, Fla., according to family members who contacted the Globe.

Givone was born in Marseille, France, on June 15, 1930, to a large Sicilian family. He grew up in Marseille and attended school there until the start of World War II.

“He lived through the devastation of that period,” said Linda Givone in a phone interview last week.

Linda Givone said her husband became a mascot of sorts for the American troops during the war. He left home at the young age of 12 and traveled with them all the way to Germany. Because he could speak French and Italian, the Americans found him to be an asset, and after the war the troops helped him stow away on a vessel going to the U.S.

Givone arrived at Ellis Island and lived in the United States and Canada for a while before returning to France to learn culinary skills at Societe Autelier de France.

He returned to the United States after seven years of training and worked in California for 17 years, during which he met his wife, Linda. They eventually moved to Florida.

Givone worked at a hotel in Florida for a while before leaving for the Lake of the Ozarks to work at Lodge of the Four Seasons and Tan-Tar-A Resort in 1978.

“(Tan-Tar-A) thought he was over-qualified and they were talking about moving us to big cities,” said Linda Givone.

The couple, said Linda Givone, were reluctant to move their children to a large city. So when Linda’s brother visited them, he made a proposition: Buy his building in Alba and set up their own enterprise. Alba was Linda’s hometown and, at the time, had a population of about 450.

“I thought it was hilarious,” said Linda Givone. “I left Alba when I was 18 and I didn’t think I’d be going back.”

But they did return in 1979. Givone began renovations on the building, and the Old Miners Inn came to life.

“Max did all the work himself. It seemed like there wasn’t any challenge he couldn’t meet,” said his wife.