Howard County Hall of Legends

Howard County has been home to a wide variety of accomplished and well-known individuals, some of whom have been recognized by the historical society's Hall of Legends program. On these pages, you can learn about a world-famous children's author, a nationally-recognized artist, leading journalists in both television and newspapers, a military commander who flew everything from balloons to bombers and led the European air command in World War II. You'll meet the father of modern rocketry, a world-renowned forensic pathologist, a country music superstar,  the very first female US Marine, two pioneers of the auto industry and a modern leader of a major world-wide car manufacturer. There's an Olympic athlete, the father of modern optometry, and a box office star, along with industrialists, educators, business and community leaders, philanthropists and more. We're proud of them all, and of the examples they have set for future generations.

Members of the 14th Hall of Legends class, chosen by a volunteer committee of community leaders from a wide range of organizations, are Bob Auth (a Howard County native who, for 20 years, hosted the Koh-Koh-Mah and Foster Living History Encampment on his property west of Kokomo), Xenia Cord (a native of Norway who became a pre-eminent collector, scholar and author in the world of quilting and was inducted into the Quilting Hall of Fame in 2018), John Grant (a Kokomo transplant who owns and operates radio station Power104.9 WTSX and was recently inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame), the late Jane Ann Noble Luljak (a Kokomo High School graduate who, as a 24-year-old co-ed at DePauw University, was elected in 1948 to serve in the Indiana House of Representatives), Angela Martino (this native of Italy was owner and operator of Martino’s Italian Villa for 60 years and was inducted into the Pizza Hall of Fame in 2020), and the late Frank Stein (a Pennsylvania native who became a brilliant physicist and left his mark on Kokomo culture as well as in the world of solid state electronics and semiconductors).