Richard “Hank” Scrivener ’71, the founder of Signal food stores and gas stations, established an endowed scholarship for business students.

Jami Jordan, president of Scrivener Oil Company, remembers the day her dad started brainstorming ideas for his first gas station.

It was 1984, and Richard “Hank” Scrivener ’71 decided it should be at a stoplight so it would be easier for customers to stop or turn in. He started sketching stoplights and created the
company’s logo: a ball that is half red and half yellow.

That was more than 40 years ago. Today, the locally owned company has 12 Signal stations around the Ozarks. Scrivener Oil Company is the stores’ parent company.

Giving back to students from the towns where they built their businesses

Scrivener and his daughter recently established the Richard H. Scrivener Endowed Scholarship in the College of
Business, from which Hank graduated.

It’s for students who graduated from Missouri school districts in Mansfield, Ava, Mountain View, Buffalo, Camdenton, Seymour, Ozark or Nixa. That’s because these communities have a Signal store, said Jordan. She spoke on her father’s behalf about the scholarship, as his health has been declining.

“We wanted to give back to those towns that have given us so much — with not only their customers, but also their employees. We have the most amazing employees,” she said.

Missouri State played an important role in their lives. Jordan was raised going to Homecoming, football games and even fraternity events with her dad. She is also a Bear,
earning her MBA in 2006.

For the past seven or eight years, they batted around the idea of starting a scholarship.

“It was, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do that some day.’ One day, I thought: You know what? My dad is still here. It’s a great time to do it. I don’t want it to be something in his legacy. I want him to be here to see it,” Jordan said. “He’s really excited about it.”

She describes her father as having grit, courage and an entrepreneurial spirit.

First-generation student found his career, wife, lifelong friends while on campus

Scrivener grew up in Lebanon, Missouri, which was a small town in the 1960s.

He was the first in his immediate family to go to college, inspired by a cousin. Scrivener chose a marketing major due to its range of career opportunities. One of his favorite professors was John Ashcroft, who eventually became the U.S. Attorney General.

On campus, Scrivener joined Sigma Phi Epsilon. He said his fraternity helped him get through MSU because his family couldn’t give him advice about college, but his fraternity brothers could. To this day, they stay in touch.

He also met his future wife Barbara on campus. She was an education major and went on to earn her master’s degree from Missouri State.

After graduation, they moved to Chicago. She taught school and he worked for Standard Oil.

Pitching his briefcase in the river: “I’m going back to Springfield” — for hard work followed by success

Scrivener worked at Standard Oil for a few years, learning all he could absorb.

But not long after Jami was born in 1976, he decided the Windy City was not where he wanted to raise a family. Scrivener threw his briefcase in the Chicago River and declared: “I am going back to Springfield.”

In the Ozarks, he first worked with Madden Oil company. Next, he decided to start his own company.

The first Signal opened in Ava. Scrivener stocked the shelves. Mowed the lawn. Shoveled the snow. And did it all while commuting to Springfield.

It was tedious work, but he was committed. Then, he opened a Signal in Mansfield. Another followed in Nixa. Locations were carefully selected. It was about quality over quantity for the company.

“We add them because they fit our business scope and model, and we feel we can make that location successful,” Jordan said.

Scrivener then decided he wanted to bring in his own fuel, so he bought a transport oil truck.

“He got it because someone told him he could never do it. He said, ‘I’ll show you,’” Jordan said. “Now we operate three transport trucks, 24 hours a day with five drivers.”

Daughter, also an alum, says company isn’t done expanding across the Ozarks

In 2005, Scrivener convinced his daughter to move from Dallas to Springfield so she could learn the basics of Scrivener Oil.

Jordan assumed a variety of roles, from working the stores to hiring and establishing their first website. Part of their deal was she’d pursue her MBA at Missouri State if she moved back.
After graduating, Jordan got married and moved to South Carolina. Then in 2008, her dad called and asked her to come back and take over the company’s burgeoning food service.

“I told him, ‘No, I don’t know anything about food service.’ But long story short, I came back and got the food service started, and now we have three Subways, two Hank’s Chicken and one Papa John’s Pizza,” she said.

The company started building travel centers, which were significantly larger than a traditional gas station. Those include diesel fueling stations, a restaurant, groceries and more. They are opening another Signal in Ozark this year. From a little operation in Ava, they have grown significantly.

Today, they have 170 employees across their locations. This scholarship is a way to give back to the university and communities he loves, Jordan said.

“He gives so much credit to Missouri State. He thinks so much of the college and what it has done for him, in the contacts and friends that he’s made.”