I stopped in Louisville, Kentucky on a cross-country road-trip and picked-up a tourist pamphlet that listed Louisville’s points of interest. First on the list was understandably Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. After that one the list of interesting places quickly diminished into a collection of mildly tolerable attractions: Louisville Mega Cavern, American Printing House for the Blind, and The Colonel Harland Sanders Museum. Given those choices, I decided to go visit The Colonel.
The museum was really just a side room off of the KFC corporate headquarters. Upon entering I was startled by a life-like fiberglass statue of the Colonel. I strolled around looking in the glass cases at such things as a photo of the Colonel being baptized in the River Jordan, and an odd interview that the Colonel did on Japanese television. I did however learn that the Colonel was buried at the nearby Cave Hill Cemetery.
It was near lunch time so I decided to pick-up a 3 piece original recipe box with mash potatoes & gravy, corn and a biscuit and have a picnic on the Colonel’s grave. What could be a greater tribute than for a total stranger to enjoy your life’s work at your final resting spot?
The cemetery’s security guard told me to follow the yellow line to the Colonel’s grave. I was impressed that enough people wanted to see the grave of the Colonel that they had a directional line that lead past the graves of 5,000 union soldiers right to the final resting place of “Mr. Secret Recipe.” I arrived at his pillared monument with a bronzed bust of The Colonel expecting his epitaph to say, “He had a Finger-Lickin’ Good Life,“ but instead it simply stated the names of he and his wife.
It was a beautiful hot Summer day so I sat on the steps of the monument enjoying the juicy, flavorful chicken and read his short biography from the museum pamphlet. I learned that he was rejected 1,009 times before selling his first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.
“My life isn’t over and I’m not going to sit in a rocking chair and take money from the government,” Colonel Sanders said about starting his business at 65 years old. I also learned that he was a very charitable man with his time and his money. “There’s no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can’t do any business there.”
With the completion of my meal and the pamphlet biography, my lunchtime tribute came to an end. In a slight twist on the Jewish tradition of leaving a pebble on the grave of a respected person as an acknowledgement of the visit, I left my mash potato & gravy spork under his goateed bust. Some people might call it littering, but I see it as a high tribute to Mr. 11 Herbs & Spices in honor of his determination and perseverance which eventually produced 15,000 restaurants in 105 countries.
I left the worldly remains of The Colonel inspired by his story and motivated to someday have a Big Mac on Ray Kroc’s grave!