He was a local hero, as was Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) in the Louisviile in which I grew up. When I saw the Colonel, he actually dressed in that white three piece suit pictured in the KFC logo. Needless to say, Louisville isn’t want it was, and neither is the state.
“YOU’LL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!”, said the mother to her eldest son. Her frustration was explicable. Widowed at twenty-nine, the young mother of three had to work hard to earn little; and with needy toddlers in tow, she had no option but to count on her eldest son, Harland. While she labored for long hours in a tomato canning factory, six years old Harland was assigned to take care and cook meals for his younger siblings.
As he turned ten, Harland’s mother sent him to work on their neighbor’s farm. The job paid two dollars a month plus meals. The farmer asked young Harland to clear bush from the field; the boy got distracted by nature and spent time loafing, watching squirrels and birds. The farmer fired him from the job.
It was one of the numerous jobs he would lose or quit during his career; nevertheless, Harland hated…
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Thanks for reblogging my article.
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My pleasure. There are lots of good memories from that era. For example, on Sunday during the old “blue law” era (no stores open), there was one cafeteria on the east side of Louisville where most people went for lunch. The Colonel would be standing in line in his white suit with the rest of us.
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Wow, such lovely memories. How time changes. Amazing!
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