Kenneth Tedford
This is a childhood story of Kenneth Tedford.
Kenny was declared "mentally retarded" in his earlier years. His
mother, an alcoholic, died when Kenny was 8 years old. His adoptive mother
loved him, but his adoptive father was embarrassed to have him around. One day,
during a class in elementary school, the teacher asked the children to draw a
stick figure of what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Pictures
of doctors, nurses, policemen, and firemen were posted all around the room.
Kenny's picture was one with the "stick" person standing next to a
podium with an American Flag in the background. When Kenny explained that he
wanted to be a motivational speaker and make people feel good, the teacher
responded, "But Kenny you know you can't do that, you're retarded!"
Kenny's response was, "Well, you're a
teacher and you're not real smart!" The teacher immediately sent Kenny to
the principal's office for punishment. The teacher explained the situation and
left Kenny alone with the principal. The principal got down on one knee and,
looking directly into Kenny's eyes, stated, "Kenny, that teacher is a very
cruel person, and I know you can be whatever you dream to be."
Later,
during a series of tests, Kenny was found to be legally deaf, not retarded!
Kenny is now a successful motivational speaker, stand-up comedian and has
authored several children's books!
John
Wesley
John
Wesley traveled 250,000 miles on horseback, averaging twenty miles a day for
forty years; preached 4,000 sermons; wrote 400 books; and knew 10 languages. At
83, he was annoyed that he could not write more than 15 hours a day without
hurting his eyes, and at 86, he was ashamed that he could not preach more than
twice a day. He complained in his diary that there was an increasing tendency
to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning.
Abraham
Lincoln
He
failed in business in '31. He was defeated in state legislature in '32. He
tried another business in '33. It failed. His fiancé died in '35. He had a
nervous breakdown in '36. In '43 he ran for Congress and was defeated. He tried
again in '48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in '55. He
lost. The next year he ran for Vice President and lost. Finally in 1860,
Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.
Counsilman
On
September 14, 1970, "Doc" Counsilman set a world record as the oldest
person ever to swim the English Channel. Not a bad achievement for a
58-year-old!
Alexander Graham Bell perfected the telephone
at 58 and solved the problem of stabilizing the balance in airplanes while in
his 70s.
Winston
Churchill
Winston
Churchill initiated his protest against Hitler as prime minister at 65. He
returned to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament at 80. When
Churchill was interviewed on his 87th birthday, a young reporter commented,
"Sir Winston, I hope to wish you well on your 100th birthday."
Churchill quickly replied, "You might do it, you look healthy."
Franklin
D Roosevelt
He
was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park. He attended Harvard University and
Columbia Law School. On St. Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt.
As a Democrat, he won election to the New York Senate in 1910. He was the
Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.
An
unfortunate disaster hit him in August 1921 at the age of 39. While the
Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada,
Roosevelt contracted an illness diagnosed then as polio which resulted in
permanent paralysis from the waist down. But he refused to remain defeated. He
was a born winner. Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently
paralyzed.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt was elected in November 1932, to the first of four terms, as the
32nd President of America. He assumed the Presidency at the depth of the Great
Depression. American people had to regain faith in them. So he fixed his
priority to regain hope for a better tomorrow. He asserted in his Inaugural
Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Roosevelt introduced Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new
controls over banks and public utilities, and enormous work relief program for
the unemployed. In 1936 he was re-elected by a top-heavy margin.
Let
me quote some of FDR’s famous sayings too:
"It
isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going
to do to get the things you want.".
"There
are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."
"When
you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph was born into poverty in 1940 in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, USA. When she was four years old she had double pneumonia with scarlet
fever, which left her paralyzed with polio.
All these ailments
contributed to a bad leg that doctors said would prevent her from ever walking.
But Wilma had a loving and devoted family who made sure she got medical
attention. They provided physical therapy themselves four times a day. She wore
a leg brace from the time she was five. At the age of nine,
against the advice of the doctors, she removed the braces and took her first
step. She took it off permanently at eleven.
Her mother encouraged her
and said that she could do anything she wanted if she only believed. Wilma
said, “I want to be the fastest woman on this earth.”
At the age of thirteen, she got involved in organized sports at school, including basketball and
track. She took part in her first race and came running
as the last. She entered various other races, but could not make considerable
advancements. She persisted. One day, she came in first. Since then she was running and winning races.
At the age of fifteen she was invited to a training camp at Tennessee State University by coach
Ed Temple, who coached numerous track and field athletes . He became Wilma's
most important professional influence.
Wilma told Ed Temple that
she wanted to become the fastest woman on the track, on this earth. The coach
replied, “With your spirit nobody can stop you.”
In 1956, when she was in high
school, she participated in the Olympic Games conducted in Melbourne,
Australia. She lost the 200 meter race, but her relay team won the bronze
medal.
In 1958, she began college
studies at Tennessee State University and became a member of Ed Temple's
"Tigerbelles" track team.
In 1960, she set a world
record for the 200 meter dash during the Olympic trials. Then during the
Olympic Games in Rome, she became the first American woman to win three gold
medals in the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash and the 400 meter relay. When
she returned to Tennessee, she was honored with her hometown's first racially
integrated parade.
The paralytic girl became
the fastest woman on this earth
Harland Sanders
Harland Sanders
Harland
Sanders is born just outside Henryville, Indiana, USA, on 9/9/1890. Household
responsibilities were often left to him while his mother worked to support the
family after his father's early death. During the years 1900 to 1924, Harland
Sanders held a variety of jobs including: farm hand, streetcar conductor, army
private in Cuba, blacksmith's helper, railyard fireman, insurance salesman,
tire salesman and service station operator for Standard Oil.
At
the age of 40, in 1930, in the midst of the depression, Harland Sanders opens
his first restaurant in the small front room of a gas station in North Corbin,
Kentucky. Sanders served as station operator, chief cook and cashier and names
the dining area "Sanders Court & Café." It was so successful
that in 1936, at 46 years old, Sanders was honoured with Knighthood as Kentucky
Colonel by the Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon, in recognition of his
contributions to the state's cuisine. The following year (Age 47; 1937), as
business grew , Sanders expanded and relocated his restaurant to 142 seats, and
added a motel he bought across the street.
At
the age of 49, in 1939, fire destroys The Sanders Court & Café, but it
is rebuilt and reopened.
In
1940 (age 50) Sanders created his well-known "Original Recipe."
In 1949 Sanders married Claudia Price.
The
Sanders Café generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida through
the town of Corbin, Kentucky. But later in 1955 the Interstate 75 was
constructed and it bypassed Corbin. This caused a great loss in business,
forcing Sanders to retire and sell his restaurant. At the age of 65, after
paying debts owed, he is virtually become broke. He began to collect his social
security check of about $105 as he wondered how he was going to survive
financially.
He
believed there was an opportunity to market his chicken to restaurant owners
across the U.S.
Col.
Sanders was willing to share his fried chicken recipe. He traveled door to door
to restaurants all over his local area and across the U.S. to sell his chicken
to restaurant owners. He wanted to partner with someone to help promote his
chicken recipe. But he was met with little enthusiasm. In his travels, he was
rejected on many occasions, laughed at about his attire of his starched white
shirt and white pants. Many assumed that he was little more than a crank!
However,
Sanders persevered.
And
after a little over 1,000 visits, he finally persuaded Pete Harman in South
Salt Lake, Utah to partner with him. They launched the first "Kentucky
Fried Chicken" site in 1952 (at the age of 62).
Pete
Harman became the first franchisee for Colonel Harland Sanders’ now Kentucky
Fried Chicken. By 1955 (age 65) the Colonel incorporated his business and went
on a road show issuing franchises throughout the country.
In
the early 1960's (age 70) there were over 600 franchised locations in the U.S.
and Canada selling the delectable chicken. At the age of 74, in 1964 Sanders
sells his interest in the U.S. company for $2 million to a group of investors
headed by John Y. Brown Jr., future governor of Kentucky. The Colonel remains a
public spokesman for the company.
Information gathered and edited by:
Professor Jacob Abraham
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