New class of inductees join Howard County Hall of Legends

A hip hop artist, live reenactment organizer, quilt expert, restaurateur, politician and physicist gathered on a stage Thursday evening.

During a ceremony in Ivy Tech Kokomo’s Hingst Hall, they became the 14th class of Howard County Hall of Legends inductees.

After a half hour or so of chit-chatting with their fellow inductees, friends and other local dignitaries, they were seated for dinner.

Linda Ferries, co-chair of the Hall of Legends Selection Committee, addressed the crowd shortly before playing a nearly hour-long video that featured interviews from honorees and their families.

“The committee is proud to present tonight’s honorees selected as we kept in mind the main goal of the legends program,” Ferries said. “And I quote, ‘to provide our young people with role models and examples of character traits that engender success and contribute to a better world.’ I think we can all agree that encouraging the next generation is a good thing for us to do.”

Bob Auth

Robert “Bob” Auth was recognized for his work hosting the Koh-Koh-Mah and Foster Living History Encampment for more than 20 years. Just before phasing out the live reenactments, Auth also tacked on the Winding Creek Music Festival, which is still held annually.

He said the inductee ceremony was a bit overwhelming, especially when he looked around the room.

In his video interview, Auth said the Koh-Koh-Mah reenactment had been a trip and that he’s loved every part of it.

The reenactment started as a video for Hoosier fourth graders. Dozens of actors held a mock skirmish on his 105 acres of land.

He dedicated roughly 20 acres to Koh-Koh-Mah. The first year was nearly canceled, though.

The reenactment was a week away when terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. Auth turned on his television and saw President George Bush Jr. tell Americans to go about their business. He took it as a green light.

160 reenactors attended the first year. Roughly 2,400 participants attended in its peak and some 35,000 children visited over the reenactment’s 24-year span.

Winding Creek has been running on the same land for about 14 years. If you’re interested, it’s set to return Aug. 15.

“Without all the people that helped pull this off, it just couldn’t have been done,” Auth said.

“Being inducted into the Hall of Legends is an honor. I appreciate it so much,” he added. “I sure did not expect that, but for Koh-Koh-Mah it’s the icing on the cake. And I do like cake.”

Xenia Cord

Xenia Cord was, in part, recognized for her work as a popular folklore instructor at Indiana University Kokomo and as a collector, scholar and expert of quilts. She was also recognized for her research on free African Americans in the Hoosier state prior to the Civil War.

Cord said the ceremony felt surprising.

“You don’t expect that sort of thing for the things that you do because you enjoy doing them or you see that they need to be done,” she said.

She added she had been looking forward to the video presentation, since inductees don’t know what will be included after their interviews are edited.

Cord’s interview was featured first in the inductee video. She explained she had been studying and working with quilts since the ‘80s.

“It’s the history of women, and women’s history is so often ignored,” she said. “Just written off as not particularly important.”

Taking a step back in time, Cord explained she and her parents lived in Norway when World War II began. They decided to emigrate, since her mother grew up in Maine. They had their documents ready when Germany invaded Norway.

Cord and her mother caught the last ship out of Oslo Harbour. Apparently, she said, several million dollars worth of gold bullion were stored in the ship’s hull.

Her father had to stay behind for nearly two months to finish his military service. He was able to reach America after catching a train to Italy, getting arrested by the gestapo and finding a spot on a ship headed across the Atlantic.

Cord explained she was a folklore graduate student at Indiana University Kokomo when she was asked to put together a summer class. Quilts were popular at the time, but the academic world hadn’t caught on yet.

Following up on the popular class, she began selling other people’s quilts and landed in the middle of the antique market. She also attends and teaches at the American Quilt Study Group’s annual seminars.

“I’m astonished that anybody thinks that the things that I have done — things that I enjoyed doing — that they were significant enough to make me an inductee,” she said. “So I’m very flattered.”

John “Uncle Boogie” Grant Jr.

John “Uncle Boogie” Grant Jr. was recognized for his work as a hip hop artist and host of Kokomo’s FM station, Power 104.9 WTSX.

Before supper, he told the Tribune that joining the 14th class of inductees felt like a graduation of sorts — he had put in the time and work to receive the recognition. He called it a graduation to another level of relationships in the city he’s called home since 2011.

Grant said he was surprised to receive the award. He said hip hop isn’t often considered political or community oriented.

“It’s a form of music,” he said. “And so I guess for the genre to be recognized is great, but I never thought I would be recognized in it. But here I am.”

Prior to being recognized by Kokomo, he was recognized in 2023 by the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, his home state New Jersey and the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the inductee video, Grant introduced himself as the licensee and owner of Power 104.9. He added he’s the founder and broadcaster behind the radio station.

Going back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, Grant remembered the birth of hip hop.

He met his friend Reggie “Rock” Passley shortly after moving to Englewood, New Jersey. Together, they saw artists like The Sugarhill Gang break into mainstream popularity.

Later, he and Reggie recorded a track for Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

While Grant isn’t sure if the song was ever played in the American release of Craven’s film, he said it was included in the European release.

From there, Grant and his friends began recording more songs. They grew in popularity, Grant released an album that went platinum and eventually got signed to PolyGram Mercury Records.

He eventually decided to get out of the recording industry but still wanted to do something with music. He moved to Georgia and started an internet radio station. Later moving to Kokomo, he was able to bring his internet show to TuneIn and grew his audience.

He started broadcasting live two years later. Now, his peak listenership hits roughly 2.1 million people a day.

“I feel very, very honored because I looked at the past inductees and these are great people,” Grant said. “You’re talking about the man who helped develop the first car, teachers. My doctor is a member of the Hall of Legends.”

Jane Ann Noble Luljak

Jane Ann Noble Luljak was recognized as the “Co-ed Legislator.” While she was a DePauw University senior in 1948, she served as joint representative for Howard and Tipton counties in the Indiana General Assembly.

Her son Dave Luljak accepted her posthumous award.

“I had no idea that something like this was coming up,” he said, adding his mother had been honored by DePauw several years ago in an alumni magazine centered around graduates who went into politics.

His wife added the Historical Society had to track them down via LinkedIn.

Luljak’s interview was conducted via video call. He explained his mother grew up in Greentown, where her father was a newspaper editor and publisher.

Jane attended DePauw University and studied politics. Toward the end of her education, she ran and was elected into the Indiana House of Representatives. By Luljak’s memory, she met her husband in the same year.

Jane didn’t tell her son much about her political career. He had to read about most of her work, namely in a profile piece that appeared in Time Magazine. The article was titled “The Co-ed Legislator.”

Luljak also found several pieces of hate mail his mother kept. Chuckling, he pointed out the internet has made sending hate mail easier. Whoever sent his mother the later had to put effort into the act.

“She would be tickled pink to get an honor like this,” Luljak said.

Angela Martino

Angela Martino was recognized for her work as a restaurateur. She and her husband Frank ran a doughnut shop and a bar on North Street for several years. Their restaurant Martino’s Italian Villa, which opened in the early ‘70s, is better known in town, though.

She said she had been surprised when the Historical Society reached out to let her know she would join the Hall of Legends.

“I’m very honored and I’m humbled to receive this award,” she told the Tribune, adding thanks to God, her customers and staff for being able to serve four generations of hungry customers.

Roughly halfway through dinner, Auth announced on stage that he had an extra present for one of his fellow nominees, Angela Martino.

Walking toward her, with the room of roughly 145 attendees watching, he told her, “This has been a wonderful relationship, Angela.”

Her table let out a hearty laugh when she reached into the bag and pulled out a jar of Ragu, which was a reference to an ongoing joke between her and Auth where her frequent customer would ask whether the restaurant’s red sauce was from a jar.

Auth received a loving “Mama slap” in return for his gift.

In her interview, Martino explained she moved to America when she was 11. She had to spend parts of her childhood in caves after Nazis took over her Italian home.

“We just survived on whatever we could in the fields,” she said.

Her father emigrated in America, working to send money back home. Martino’s siblings moved to America in order of age, so they could also work to send money back home. She made her way to New York in 1947.

Her husband Frank was dating someone else when she first met him. She caught his attention later on, while he was visiting her brother. She lived in Rhode Island at the time.

They moved to Kokomo a year after getting married. Frank worked at Continental Steel for 17 years before the couple decided to buy a doughnut shop. They purchased a bar, the North Star, after their short orders for things like spaghetti and pizza.

Martino’s Italian Villa came shortly after. Martino and her husband built the menu by trying different recipes and cooking on their own.

“I am very honored and I am thankful, very humbled, but I credit a lot of it to my family, my clientele,” Martino said. “Because without teamwork, it’s hard to accomplish a lot of things.”

Frank Stein

Frank Stein was recognized for his work as a physicist and engineer. He joined his wife Eleanor (the first female judge in Howard County) in the Hall of Legends posthumously. They are the first married couple to earn the recognition.

“I’m really excited and really proud. He was a really nice guy and he was smart and he was kind,” Stein’s daughter Joan Stein Jenkins said. “The fact that he and my mom both have this honor just makes me feel very proud of my parents. I just wish they’d been here.”

Jenkins’ interview was also conducted via video call.

She explained her father tried to enlist during WWII, but was declined. He had been studying physics at Columbia University at the time and was instead sent to work on the Manhattan Project.

He met Jenkins’ mother while working on the project. She would frequently stop to get coffee near his office so she could see him.

Frank also worked as an engineer to standardize electronics and, after moving to Kokomo, became interested in applied physics while working on semiconductors.

Other than physics, Jenkins explained her father also loved the arts, was connected with Kokomo’s Jewish community and loved music. She noted her father was influential in starting the city’s Community Concerts program.

“He was a renaissance man,” Jenkins said.

She said her father would be “tickled” to join the Hall of Legends. He would also hope to have his wife there with him, Jenkins said.

“The fact that they’re both there together, it’s just how they do things. It’s how they roll,” Jenkins said.

Accepting awards

The honorees shook hands and took a few moments to thank their loved ones after the ceremony.

Each one posed for photos, holding teardrop-shaped awards that were made at Kokomo Opalescent Glass.

If you would like to watch the interview video, you’re able to do so on the Historical Society’s website, howardcountymuseum.org/. You can find the video by clicking on the programs tab, then the Howard County Hall of Legends button.

If you would like to nominate someone for next year’s batch of inductees, you’re able to do on the same page.