Being named a Kentucky Colonel is the commonwealth’s highest official honor and is bestowed by the sitting governor. Though civilian in nature, the title has its roots in military awards, dating back to 1813, when then-governor Issac Shelby awarded the title of “colonel” to a member of the state’s disbanded militia. After that, the title took on an increasingly ceremonial role, eventually evolving into a beneficent order and independent non-profit organization in the 20th century.

It’s up to each governor to decide who should be honored as a Kentucky Colonel, so the exact requirements for the award are not set in stone, and the number of recipients in any given year can vary a great deal. Essentially, anyone a sitting governor likes, they can make an honorary colonel. Some of the more famous Kentucky Colonels include Muhammad Ali, Lily Tomlin, Mike Pence, and most famous of all, KFC’s Colonel Sanders.

In 1930, the Shell Oil Company offered Sanders a service station in North Corbin, Kentucky, rent free, in return for paying the company 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.

It was during this period that Sanders was involved in a shootout with Matt Stewart, a local competitor, over the repainting of a sign directing traffic to his station. Stewart killed a Shell employee who was with Sanders. Sanders returned fire and wounded Stewart in the shoulder. Stewart was convicted of murder, eliminating Sanders' competition.

Sanders was commissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1935 by Kentucky governor Ruby Laffoon. His local popularity grew, and, in 1939, food critic Duncan Hines visited Sanders's restaurant and included it in Adventures in Good Eating, his guide to restaurants throughout the US.

In July 1939, Sanders acquired a motel in Asheville, North Carolina. His North Corbin restaurant and motel was destroyed in a fire in November 1939, and Sanders had it rebuilt as a motel with a 140-seat restaurant. By July 1940 (age 50), Sanders had finalized his "Secret Recipe" for frying chicken in a pressure fryer that cooked the chicken faster than pan frying.

As the United States entered World War II in December 1941, gas was rationed, and as the tourism dried up, Sanders was forced to close his Asheville motel. He went to work as a supervisor in Seattle until the latter part of 1942. He later ran cafeterias for the government at an ordnance works in Tennessee, followed by a job as assistant cafeteria manager in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

He left his mistress, Claudia Ledington-Price, as manager of the North Corbin restaurant and motel. In 1942, he sold the Asheville business. In 1947, he and Josephine divorced, and Sanders married Claudia in 1949, as he had long desired. Sanders was "re-commissioned" as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by his friend, Governor Lawrence Wetherby.

In 1952, Sanders franchised his secret recipe "Kentucky Fried Chicken" for the first time, to Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of that city's largest restaurants. In the first year of selling the product, restaurant sales more than tripled, with 75% of the increase coming from sales of fried chicken.

Sanders decided to begin to franchise his chicken concept in earnest, and traveled the US looking for suitable restaurants. After closing the North Corbin site, Sanders and Claudia opened a new restaurant and company headquarters in Shelbyville in 1959. Often sleeping in the back of his car, Sanders visited restaurants, offered to cook his chicken, and if workers liked it negotiated franchise rights.

Although such visits required much time, eventually potential franchisees began visiting Sanders instead. He ran the company while Claudia mixed and shipped the spices to restaurants. The franchise approach became highly successful; KFC was one of the first fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in Canada and later in the UK, Australia, Mexico and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Sanders obtained a patent protecting his method of pressure frying chicken in 1962, and trademarked the phrase "It's Finger Lickin' Good" in 1963.

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.

In 1965, Sanders moved to Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto until his death in 1980. In September 1970 he and his wife were baptized in the Jordan River. He also befriended Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell.

Winston Shelton takes dear friend Colonel Harland Sanders to meet Norman Rockwell to prepare for his signature portrait, a painting commissioned by Winston.

It almost didn't happen. The request was originally denied by Rockwell, he stipulated that he would only paint the Colonel if he didn't wear his glasses. After a colorful exchange, the Colonel relented and agreed to pose without his trademark spectacles and Rockwell began work on the portrait in the summer of 1973. After relentless pursuit by Winston, and $8,000 later, the painting was completed in 1975. This painting is one of the only known pictures to feature the Colonel without his glasses.

Colonel Harland Sanders, personally signed arts catalogue photograph of a painting by artist Norman Rockwell

In 1975, Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly described their gravy as being "sludge" with a "wall-paper taste".

Sanders remained critical of Kentucky Fried Chicken's food. In the late 1970s he told the Louisville Courier-Journal: My God, that gravy is horrible. They buy tap water for 15 to 20 cents a thousand gallons and then they mix it with flour and starch and end up with pure wallpaper paste the crispy fried chicken recipe is nothing in the world but a damn fried doughball stuck on some chicken.