Duty To Service and a Drive For Business
Major General. Successful businessman. Mississippi oil legend. Devout family man. Public servant. The titles and adjectives that define Jim Lipscomb’s career could go on for a long time and still not give the person himself the justice and recognition deserved.
Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Lipscomb’s father was an employee of the telephone company, which transferred the family to Greenwood when Lipscomb was in high school.
“That’s how I ended up in the Delta,” he says. “And, while it was a big change from south Mississippi, I still loved it, especially in those days, the late 50s and early 60s. I graduated from Greenwood High School and, as an enlistee in the Army National Guard, I went off to initial active duty training for several months. After completing that, I attended Mississippi State University.”
Graduating from MSU in 1965 with a degree in Marketing, Lipscomb had married before he got his degree.
“Mary Lynn Bowman was my high school sweetheart, a true Delta girl, and we both attended State together after we married in 1964,” he says. The couple are the parents of five married children and thirteen grandchildren, Tracy (a university dean who lives in New Zealand), Jamie, Kristen, Parker and Hunter and Lispcomb says that the most favorite thing his family now likes to do together is go back to Starkville and attend athletic events. “Our children are all professionals who have done extremely well in their lives and blessed Mary Lynn and me with terrific grandchildren,” says Lipscomb.
While also at MSU, Lispcomb attended Officers Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Guard. With reserves not being utilized unless absolutely necessary in the Vietnam War, as authorized by then-President Lyndon Johnson, Lipscomb remained stateside during that conflict.
During his years in the Guard, Lipscomb served in the Field Artillery branch and commanded Field Artillery units at every level the state of Mississippi had and at the Major Subordinate Command Level.
For his civilian career, Lipscomb opted to go to work with an oil and refining company that is now known as ExxonMobil after meeting representatives from the company just prior to graduating college. It would be the start of a long and auspicious career for the young man.
“I didn’t know much about petroleum marketing at the time, although I could fill up my car with gasoline,” chuckles Lipscomb. “In any case, I got the job after several interesting interviews and ended up taking a job as a marketing manager trainee in Memphis with the company.”
After a ten year multiple assignment career with ExxonMobil, living in four different locations, Lipscomb began the operation of his company, Lipscomb Oil, in April, 1978 in Greenville, where he remains today. He began his operations as a secondary bulk plant, supplying fuel and lubricant products to customers in a three county area in northwest Mississippi. “Small country stores, farmers, commercial businesses and service station dealers were our main customers,” says Lipscomb.
“I had gotten tired of moving and taking our children in and out of schools,” recalls Lipscomb. “We wanted a steady and more stable environment for them and I was ready, by this time, to venture out on my own. The company operated full service stations at the beginning and then, by the early 80s, transitioned over to opening more convenience stores with fuel and that’s primarily where our growth came, in the retail sector.”
Those stores today are called Parker’s Filling Stations, as of 2018, named after his next-to-youngest son, who now leads the company as President and COO alongside his father in Greenville. The company currently owns and operate thirteen of the stores.
Just like the industry he has prospered within, Lipscomb’s business has also transitioned in many phases and in many ways. Today, besides the multiple convenience stores, the company also supplies bulk fuels to dealer customers marketing ExxonMobil and Shell products in northwest Mississippi and southeast Arkansas.
“These days, we actually are doing more wholesale business, selling products to others who own their own convenience stores,” he says. “We’re seeing strong growth in this sector. Parker is doing the day-to-day work while I focus on other activities in the business, including giving back to the industry that he has been so successful in.
Forty five years ago, Lipscomb joined the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers Association, now known as the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association. He has served as President and nearly continuously as a Director. During that time, he has led the Insurance and Regulation Committee and for over the last fifteen years he has been the Mississippi Director of Energy Marketers of America as well as several years as Regional Chair, Southern Region. He was just recently named the Energy Marketers of America’s Chairman in January. Lipscomb also served on the Motor Fuels and Convenience Store committees.
Lipscomb was a governor-appointee to the original Mississippi Groundwater Protection Advisory Committee that worked alongside the Mississippi DEQ to formulate the Groundwater Trust, where he also served as chair, that has successfully served marketers and the public since 1989. His services continue today as he serves as Chair of the Mississippi Underground Storage Tank Advisory Committee, consulting and advising the MSDEQ concerning compliance, regulatory and financial matters affecting MSDEQ and petroleum marketers across the state.
Lipscomb was last assigned in his military service after being appointed by Governor Ronnie Musgrove as The Adjutant General of Mississippi. In this position, Major General Lipscomb served on the Governor’s Cabinet and Commanded the force of 13,000 men and women of the Army and Air Guard of Mississippi. He retired from the Guard in 2004.
Lipscomb is a recipient of the United States Army Distinguished Service Medal and continues serving veterans as a member of the Veterans Home Purchase Board, an agency that assists those who have served in purchasing a home.
The Major General served as a Director of Federated Insurance Company, based in Minnesota, for twenty-eight years before retiring earlier this year. He also serves as a Director of Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, a large Community Bank headquartered in the Delta. Lipscomb also serves in various capacities of the St Joseph Catholic Church in Greenville as well as the Diocese of Jackson. Lipscomb was named by the Boy Scouts in 2002 as a “Distinguished Eagle Scout” and he continues to work with the Scouts as Chair of the Eagle Scout Advancement Committee for the Washington District.
“My wife and I spend most of our time with our children and grandchildren when I’m not working,” says Lipscomb. “I enjoy lake time, as well as vacation and holiday time together. And, again, we love all things Mississippi State. My entire family made a lot of sacrifices over the years while I’ve been in the oil business and serving in the Guard. I would never be where I am today had it not been for them. Mary Lynn and I always wanted a large family and we have that, as well as the strong ties to go along with it. We also had parents with strong values and high standards of expectations for which we are thankful,” he says.
“I’m also grateful to my employees for the part their support has played in my accomplishments. They are so important to any company’s success, including my own. Even in the military I had competent members in every unit I was a part of in the roles that I played that gave the best they had to accomplish whatever the mission was,” adds Lipscomb.
Photography by Johnny Jennings