Hoosier students will recall the Indiana History curriculum we had in fourth grade. To some the names, dates and places were boring. But it sparked in me a lifelong love of my state and its history. While my classmates idolized sports stars or celebrities the men and women who made Indiana and our nation what it is became my childhood heroes. To be truthful my home state is an interesting place filled with fascinating people and places, both past and present. Let's discover some together.
Harland Sanders- The Chicken Colonel
Harland David Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, in a four-room house located 3 miles east of Henryville, Indiana. His father was a mild and affectionate man who worked his 80-acre farm, until he broke his leg after a fall. He then worked as a butcher in Henryville for two years. Sanders' mother was a devout Christian and strict parent, continuously warning her children of "the evils of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and whistling on Sundays." In 1895, his father came down with a fever and died. Harland’s mother obtained work in a tomato cannery while young Harland looked after and cooked for his siblings. By the age of seven, he was skilled with bread and vegetables, and improving with meat. The children foraged for food while their mother was away for at work. When he was 10, Sanders began to work as a farmhand. In 1902, Sanders' mother remarried and the family moved to Greenwood, Indiana. He had a strained relationship with his stepfather. In 1903, he dropped out of seventh grade (later stating that "algebra's what drove me off"), and went to work on a nearby farm. At age 13, he left home, He then took a job painting horse carriages in Indianapolis. In 1906 he went to live with his uncle in New Albany, Indiana. His uncle worked for the streetcar company, and secured Sanders a job as a conductor. Over the next several years Sanders worked at various jobs. Sanders falsified his date of birth and enlisted in the United States Army in October 1906, completing his service commitment as a wagoner in Cuba. He was honorably discharged in February 1907. During his life he worked at many jobs including: blacksmith, locomotive fireman, lawyer, salesman, ran a ferryboat from Jeffersonville to Louisville, ran a gas station and finally entered the restaurant business.
In 1930, the Shell Oil Company offered Sanders a service station in North Corbin, Kentucky, rent free, in return for paying them a percentage of sales. Sanders began to serve chicken dishes and other meals such as country ham and steaks. Initially he served the customers in his adjacent living quarters before opening a restaurant. By July 1940, Sanders had finalized his "Secret Recipe" for frying chicken in a pressure fryer that cooked the chicken faster than pan frying. In 1952, Sanders franchised his secret recipe "Kentucky Fried Chicken" for the first time. The company's rapid expansion to more than 600 locations became overwhelming for the aging Sanders. In 1964, then 73 years old, he sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation for $2 million. Sanders remained the company's symbol after selling it, traveling 200,000 miles a year on the company's behalf and filming many TV commercials and appearances. He retained much influence over executives and franchisees. After being recommissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, growing a goatee and wearing a black frock coat (later switching to a white suit), a string tie. He never wore anything else in public during the last 20 years of his life, using a heavy wool suit in the winter and a light cotton suit in the summer.
Sanders was diagnosed with acute leukemia in June 1980.He died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville of pneumonia on December 16, 1980 at the age of 90. Sanders had remained active until the month before his death, appearing in his white suit to crowds. His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort after a funeral service at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Chapel, which was attended by more than 1,000 people. Sanders was buried in his characteristic white suit and black western string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery. The Colonel Harland Sanders Trust and Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization has donated millions of dollars to aid charities and fund scholarships. The Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball league has developed an urban legend of the "Curse of the Colonel". A statue of Colonel Sanders was thrown into a river and lost during a 1985 fan celebration, and (according to the legend) the "curse" has caused Japan's Hanshin Tigers to perform poorly since the incident
The log is checked periodically and any online logs without the corresponding signature on the physical log will be deleted. Not trying to be mean but that is how the game is played