Born August 29, 1891 in David City, Nebraska, Joyce Clyde Hall was the youngest son of George and Nancy Hall. The family was poor and he helped out by working odd-jobs since the age of 8. Objecting to his first name of Joyce (named after Methodist bishop, Isaac W. Joyce) he went by J.C. all of his life. The Hall family moved to Norfolk, Nebraska, before the turn of the century where J.C. sold perfume to neighbors and clerked in his brothers' bookstore after school. When he was 16, J.C. and his brothers, Rollie and William, pooled $150 and opened the Norfolk Post Card Company. But the market for imported postcards was limited and the new business barely scraped by. In January 1910, at the age of 18, J.C. dropped out of high school, crammed two shoeboxes full of postcards, and boarded a train for Kansas City, Missouri. Though without even enough money to take a horse-drawn cab to his lodgings at the YMCA, he had an entrepreneurial spirit and the determination of a pioneer. Hall quickly made a name for himself with the picture postcards he sold. At first, he called on drugstores, bookstores and gift shops. As business picked up, he ventured into towns served by the railroads running in all directions from the burgeoning Midwestern rail center. Business was promising enough that Rollie joined him the following year and they opened Hall Brothers store in Kansas City, which wholesaled post cards, gifts, books and stationery to retail stores. On Jan. 11, 1915 (5 years and a day after J.C. had arrived in Kansas City), a fire destroyed their entire office and inventory. Not set on giving up, the brothers secured a loan, purchased an engraving firm that had previously provided products to them, and began producing their own greeting cards that same year. During the peak Christmas season in 1917, the company ran out of solid-colored gift wrap, and improvised by selling fancy decorated envelope linings. Those sold out so quickly that the brothers decided to add to their own printed gift wrap to the product offerings.

In 1921, William Hall, who had stayed in Norfolk to run the bookstore, joined J.C. and Rollie in Kansas City, and in 1923, they formed Hall Brothers, Inc. In his own bailiwick, J.C. Hall had the Midas touch when it came to new ideas and marketing cards. He was so intrigued by the word "hallmark" used by goldsmiths as a mark of quality (it not only said quality, but also included his family name) that in 1928, the company began marketing its brand using the Hallmark name, and placing it on the back of every card for advertising purposes. The same year, Hallmark was the first in the greeting card industry to advertise nationally -- the ad was personally written by J.C. and appeared in Ladies' Home Journal. J.C. was convinced of the power of national advertising and next turned to radio, sponsoring "Tony Wons' Radio Scrapbook." But the innovation didn't stop there. In 1932, Hallmark signed its first licensing agreement with one of the 20th century's most recognizable names -- Walt Disney. Another innovation of J.C.'s was the company's patented "Eye-Vision" greeting card displays, which took cards out of shop drawers and put them on display racks where people could easily see and read them. The way you see greeting cards displayed today was another industry-first created by Hallmark. The burgeoning brand solidified its position in American history in 1944 with nine simple words and one of the most recognized slogans in advertising: "When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best," was born from a three-by-five-inch notecard on which Ed Goodman, a sales and marketing executive at Hallmark, jotted down his thoughts about what Hallmark stood for: caring, quality, the best. Amid strong opposition to sponsoring a television show, J.C. decided to sponsor NBC's live production of Amahl and the Night Visitor on Christmas Eve 1951. That broadcast launched what would become the "Hallmark Hall of Fame," which after more than 55 years is television's most honored and enduring dramatic series.

Since the l980s, Hallmark has added to its product line by acquiring complementary companies such as Crayola (maker of CrayolaŽ brand crayons); Sunrise Greetings; Image Arts; DaySpring; William Arthur; and Irresistible Ink. Today, Hallmark products can also be found at more than 41,500 retail outlets domestically and online at Hallmark.com. The company publishes in 30 languages, and its products are available in more than 100 countries around the globe. Hallmark Gold CrownŽ stores are the company's network of 3,300 independently-owned card and gift specialty stores. Even as the company celebrates its 100th year, the Hallmark brand continues to evolve. Quality family entertainment started with the Hallmark Hall of Fame and lives on with the Hallmark Channel television network that reaches millions of households with family-oriented programming. And on the greeting card front, Cards With Sound, Recordable Cards With Music, and Cards With Motion are transforming the industry once again.

"Mr. J.C." was Hallmark Cards for 56 years. "Good taste is good business" was his creed. J.C. demanded excellence of himself and others, and he got it. Yet, he appraised himself as a man who had achieved success primarily because he had worked harder than others. "I figured I wasn't as smart as some of the other fellows, so I had to work twice as hard," he said.  Until 1966, when he stepped aside as chief executive officer in favor of his son, Donald J. Hall, no Hallmark greeting card reached the marketplace without his "O.K.J.C." imprimatur. J.C. never totally retired. Not one to drop out of sight, he continued as chairman of the board and kept a close watch on quality. "I'm hell-bent on quality," he used to say. Whether buying or selling, J.C. appreciated and demanded value. In semi-retirement, he spent a part of each summer in Malibu, Calif. But the rest of the year he put in a day's work just as he had done almost every day of his life since he began selling perfume door-to-door at age 9.

J.C. Hall died on Oct. 29, 1982 at the age of 91. He and his wife, Elizabeth (who married in 1921) had three children: Elizabeth Ann Reid of Denton, TX; Barbara Louise Marshall of Kansas City, MO; and Donald Joyce Hall of Mission Hills, KS, who is chairman of the company his father founded. His grandson, Donald J. Hall, Jr., is now president and CEO. J.C. Hall lived the American dream. He overcame both poverty and a lack of a formal education to become the architect of an industry, friend of two presidents and a prime minister, patron of the arts, and recipient of high honors from three nations. Though J.C. Hall became a wealthy man, profit was never foremost in his thoughts. In his autobiography, When You Care Enough, he wrote: "If a man goes into business with only the idea of making a lot of money, chances are he won't. But if he puts service and quality first, the money will take care of itself. Producing a first-class product that is a real need is a much stronger motivation for success than getting rich."

In celebration of Hallmark Cards' 100^th birthday this year, you are invited to visit http://www.hallmark.com/100years where the company is collecting and sharing stories about people's "Hallmark Moments" that includes videos to watch, an interactive timeline and more.

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would make the fraudulent use of spoofing illegal. Florida is the only state that has banned Caller ID spoofing altogether, and has made it a criminal offense. But the technology exists and criminals have shown themselves to be highly adept at using any new development to their advantage.  (Source, The National Notary, September 2009)