The Day I Met Colonel Sanders

In 1964, when I was just 10 years old, I would spend my Saturdays “working” at my father’s business, S. Fargotstein & Sons on the 10^th floor of the Shrine Building in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. His company, at the time, mostly sold watch parts and jewelry to Jewelry stores all over the South. On Saturdays, the glass see-thru doors to the office were locked, as my father was mostly dictating into a “Dictaphone” machine - so that his secretary could type it out during the following week. Communications in those days was a lot slower than today!

On this particular Saturday, around 1pm, after I had made all the morning deliveries to the downtown jewelry stores and pawn shops on Beale Street, someone pushed the buzzer in the hallway. Usually it was the mailman, so it wasn’t a surprise. My father said “Shep, go open the front door and let him in”. I walked up to the front counters, walked into the customer lobby area and looked through the glass doors and there stood Colonel Sanders in his full white suit, white hair and goatee - and his famous western bow tie! He looked 10 feet tall as I looked through the glass – in total shock.

I screamed “IT’S COLONEL SANDERS”!

I opened the door, the Colonel walked in, patted me on the head, looked over at my father and said “hi Max!” as he walked past the counters towards where my father was standing near his desk. They sat and talked for a while. My father knew I was impressed, as he saw me staring at the Colonel from afar. He called me over and formally introduced me and I shook his hand.  After they were done talking my father handed the Colonel a small bag, rang up the order on the ornate brass national cash register, gave the Colonel change and the Colonel walked out. I stood there in awe.

I asked my father why Colonel Sanders was at the office and he said that he had known Colonel Sanders for decades (before he became famous) because he had always been a hobbyist pocket watch collector, and liked to fix them himself. He always wore a pocket watch (on a gold chain) with his white suit. They were such good friends that the Colonel made my father an official “Kentucky Colonel” and gave him a framed certificate to hang in his office.

As it turned out, that very year (at age 73), the Colonel sold his business for $2 million ($17 million today), but he continued to drive all over the South promoting the Kentucky Fried Chicken stores.