Joyce Clyde Hall, an American businessman, was the founder of Hallmark Cards.
Background
Born in 1891 in David City, Nebraska, the son of Nancy Dudley Houston and George Nelson Hall, a traveling Methodist minister who provided sparingly for his wife and children. When Hall was seven, his father abandoned the family. Hall"s response to his father"s mantra, "the Lord will provide," was, "lieutenant"s a good idea to give the Lord a little help." In 1905, Hall and his brothers invested United States$540 to buy picture postcards to sell to store owners and other dealers around their area.
Career
Hall worked odd jobs, mostly involving sales, from age 8 on. Hall conceived the Norfolk Post Card Company in 1908 in Norfolk, Nebraska. In 1910, Hall moved to Kansas City, Missouri, with little more than two shoe boxes of postcards.
The store burned in 1915, and a year later, Hall bought an engraving business and began printing his own cards.
lieutenant turned into a bigger business than he had had before. In 1928, he began marketing his cards under the Hallmark brand name.
Hall, who objected to the name Joyce and typically went by "J.C.," retired in 1966 and spent his retirement in efforts to revitalize the Kansas City downtown area. One of the results was Crown Center, a combination business/shopping district surrounding the Hallmark corporate headquarters.
Hall died in 1982 in Kansas City.