Tip – Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear.

Just for fun, this month’s tip is from Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story.”

Maybe all his life Harlan had been in too much of a hurry. He was five when his Hoosier farmer daddy had died. At fourteen he dropped out of Greenwood School and hit the road. He tried odd jobs as a farm hand, hated it. Tried being a streetcar conductor and hated that. At sixteen he lied about his age and joined the Army and hated that, too. When his one-year enlistment was up he headed
for Alabama, tried blacksmithing, and failed.

He became a railroad locomotive foreman with the Southern Railroad. He liked that. Figured maybe he had found himself. At eighteen he got married, and within months, wouldn’t you know she announced she was pregnant the day he announced he’d been fired again? Then one day while he was out job hunting, his young wife gave away all their possessions and went home to her parents. Then came the depression. Harlan couldn’t win for losing, as they say. He really tried.

Once, while working at a succession of railroad jobs, he tried studying law by correspondence. But he dropped out of that too. He tried selling insurance, selling tires. He tried running a ferryboat, running a filling station. No use. Face it-Harlan was a loser. Late in life he became chief cook and bottle washer at a restaurant in Corbin. He did all right until the new highway bypassed the restaurant. His restaurant customers in Corbin said they’d miss him.

He’s not the first man nor will he be the last to arrive at the twilight of life with nothing to show for it. The bluebird of happiness, or whatever, had always fluttered just out of reach. He’d stayed honest, but now the years had slid by, and a lifetime was gone and he had nothing. He had not really felt old until that day the postman brought his first Social Security Check.

He took that $105 check, said “Nuts” and started a new business. His new business prospered and so did he.

For the man who failed at everything save one thing, the man who never got started until it was time to stop, was Harlan Sanders. Colonel Harlan Sanders. The new business he started with his first  Social Security check was Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now you know the rest of the story.

Tom Packer is an Elder Law Attorney serving all Southeast Idaho. As part of his law practice, Tom offers Life Care Planning to deal with the challenges created by long-term illness, disability and incapacity. If you have a question about a Senior’s legal, financial or healthcare needs, please call us.

April 2026