Mr. M Larue Kohl

I am Larue Kohl, a 46 year resident of Marshall County, Alabama. I moved my family from New Orleans to open my first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in 1972 and owned and operated four KFC’s in Marshall and Morgan County for over 45 years. My wife of 48 years, Jane Blanchard Kohl founded Jane Kohl School of Dance in 1977 in our garage with 36 students. It is now the Kohl Academy of Performing Arts, where Jane has continued to impact young dancers’ lives with her passion and expertise for over four decades. We have three grown children--Kris, Melissa and Lea who all grew up on Guntersville Lake—ask them and they will tell you that Tuesdays are for waterskiing. Kris is married to Naomi Helene Kohl and has three girls—Sophia 10, Norah 7 and Audra 5. Kris is the Senior Cloud Architect for Hilton Worldwide and lives in Germantown, Tennessee. Melissa is married to Mark Blackburn and has 9 year old twins Rex and Merrin, and Nila 3. Mark runs the Blackburn Golf Academy based at Greystone Performance Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Lea is married to Mark’s brother Paul Blackburn. They have a 4 year old named Emma and an 8 month old named Alice. Paul is the VP of Retail Development, Design & Merchandising for L’Occitane en Provence, North America. Colonel Sanders offered me several locations for my first KFC, but the Mountains and the Lake in Guntersville sealed the deal for us. I was an early member of the Guntersville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Guntersville Jaycees. I was Jaycee Boat Race Chairman in 1977 and Jaycee President in 1978. We were ranked the number one Jaycee Club in the State of Alabama that year. Jane is a past Jayceette president as well. I served on the DHR Quality Assurance Team for four years and was its Chairman when DHR was certified by Ivor Groves as Federally Compliant. I am a charter member (still active in its 21st year) of the Marshall County Child Advocacy Center Board. KFC Board and Association Positions: I was elected President of the KFC Local Advertising Cooperative in Huntsville/Decatur in 1992 and served for 20 years in that capacity. I was elected to the Southeast KFC Franchisee Association representing Alabama in 1992 and served as its President in 1997-98. I represented the Southeast on the National Board for 4 years. Jane and I served as meeting planners for the SEKFCFA for eight years setting up four meetings a year all over the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. I was elected as a council member of the KFC governing body, the National Council and Advertising Cooperative representing KFC Franchisees in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana in 1998 and served three 3 year terms. During those nine years I was a member of the NCAC Public Relations sub-committee and I chaired that sub-committee for six years. I also assisted the NCAC meeting planner. I went through the chairs of the Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, Inc (AKFCF.com) serving as its President in 2012-13. I helped plan board meetings for four years and worked on five National Convention planning committees, two in New Orleans (Chairman), one in San Antonio, one in San Diego and one in Orlando. In 2014 when I was no longer on a KFC board I got bored and I took the ACES Master Gardener class and am now an active member of Marshall County Master Gardeners working on local projects like the CASA Garden. In 2014 I was appointed to represent the Marshall County Commission on the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Board. In 2016 I was re-appointed. In my first three and a half years I represented Marshall County at many trade shows and tourism expos from Indianapolis to Seattle to Memphis to New Orleans to Nashville and Will Ainsworth’s Hunting and Fishing Expo in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2016 I received the Good Neighbor Award from then Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourism Association Board for my work promoting North Alabama in General and Marshall County in particular. I love tourism and I think our Mountain Lakes are among the top attractions in the Country. Jane and I have had four families move here over the years and are currently working on relocating our fifth family to move here. I am an ex-officio member of the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau working with Katy Norton, the President and its board as the Chairman of the committee that brought the H1 Unlimited Boat Races back to Guntersville on June 22-24, 2018. We have been approved by H1 to hold our 2nd Annual Guntersville Lake HydroFest on June 28-30, 2019 featuring the H1 Unlimited and the Grand Prix classes of race boats on the Fastest Water in the South. I am the Immediate Past President of the Guntersville Rotary Club. Colonel Sanders said when asked about retirement, “It’s not for me. A feller will rust out a lot quicker than he’ll wear out.” I agree and have lived my entire life by this motto. I am preceded in death by: Mother: Blanche Larue Kohl Father: Jack Action Kohl I am survived by: Two sisters: Susan Drake (Jim) Mimi Weir (Kent) Three children: Kris Kohl (Naomi) Melissa Blackburn (Mark) Lea Blackburn (Paul) Eight grandchildren: Sophia, Norah & Audra Kohl Rex, Merrin & Nila Blackburn Emma & Alice Blackburn One nephew and five nieces: Kohl, Allie & Shelby Weir, Madeleine Corbo, Renee’ Blanchard Culbertson and Celeste Jones

Mr. M Larue Kohl

July 21, 1947 - December 12, 2018