Harland Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890 and his father died when he was six. While his mother worked Harland took care of his younger brother and sister including cooking meals for the family.  By the age of seven he was master of a score of regional dishes. At age ten he got his first job working on a nearby farm for $2 a month. He left home at age twelve to work on a farm in Greenwood, Indiana. Over the next few years he held a series of jobs, a streetcar conductor in New Albany, Indiana and soldiering for six months in Cuba.

After that he was a railroad fireman, studied law by correspondence, practiced in justice of the peace courts, sold insurance, operated an Ohio River steamboat ferry, sold tires and operated service stations. When he was 40, the Colonel began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. He didn't have a restaurant then, but served folks on his own dining table in the living quarters of his service station. As more people started coming just for food he moved across the street to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people. Over the next nine years he perfected his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices and the basic cooking technique that is still used today. 

In the early 1950's a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the town of Corbin. Seeing an end to his business, the Colonel auctioned off his operations. After paying his bills, he was reduced to living on his $105 Social Security checks. Confident of the quality of his fried chicken, the Colonel devoted himself to the chicken franchising business that he started in 1952. In 1948 he married Claudia, a woman who worked in his restaurant. The Colonel and Claudia traveled across the country by car from restaurant to restaurant, cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees. If the reaction was favorable, he entered into a handshake agreement on a deal that stipulated a payment to him of a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada. That year, he sold his interest in the U.S. company for $2 million to a group of investors including John Y. Brown Jr., who later was governor of Kentucky from 1980 to 1984. The Colonel remained a public spokesman for the company. Claudia open a restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky that bore her name. In 1976, an independent survey ranked the Colonel as the world's second most recognizable celebrity. Today Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has over 11,000 restaurants in over 80 countries.

There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken museum in the KFC headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel's original restaurant and office in Corbin is being restored and a museum is on-site. His motel and service station have been torn down. Harlan Sanders received the honorary title of Colonel from the governor of Kentucky in recognition of his contributions to the state's cuisine.

Years later I was honored by the governor of Kentucky with the title of Colonel for the work I had done on preserving the history of Kentucky and her people through research, writings and a book. Col. Sanders became rich and famous. Col. Payne did not.

About 1975, when the Colonel was about 85 years old, I was called to Kentucky Fried Chicken headquarters to repair computer equipment. The building has two gigantic heavy wood doors and I gave one a forceful shove. I felt resistance and heard a thug and a scream. I rushed inside to find the Colonel staggering and a secretary coming to his assistance. I apologized but Colonel Sanders said it was his fault. He told me he should not have stood with his back to the door. Luckily he was not injured.

On one of our first dates Linda and I ate in Claudia Sanders' restaurant. Later Mrs. Sanders became a resident in the retirement community where Linda worked. Col Sanders had spent many years perfecting his secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices that give Kentucky Fried Chicken its special taste. In Mrs. Sanders last days she revealed the "secret recipe" to Linda, but she did not write it down and forgot the ingredients.