The late Henry Morgan of the “Mr. Henry’s Cookies” has made state history as being an inaugural inductee into the state Petroleum and Convenience Marketing Hall of Fame.

Established in 2012, the P&CMA hall of fame recognizes those who have demonstrated a lifetime of outstanding service to the association, their local community and the industry.

Family and friends describe Morgan, who died in 2009, as a man dedicated to the petroleum and convenience store industry. He began his career in 1948 as a distributor with Pan Am gasoline company, which later became Amoco. He later opened a chain of Auto-Save Tire Stores and then the Mr. Henry’s convenience store chain.

However, most people will know him from “Mr. Henry’s Cookies.”

“How he got started in the cookie business is a good one,” said Morgan’s son, Rick, of Opp, who accepted the honor on his father’s behalf the association’s June convention event in Orange Beach. “Dad had a great imagination. He loved Mrs. Field’s cookies, and back then, you could only find them in the larger convenience stores. He would come back home and experiment. He retired in 1998, but one day, he got (the recipe) right, and he made it into a business.

“To accept that award on my dad’s behalf, I’m certainly proud,” he said. “If anyone deserved it, he did.”

The Morgan family sold the company in 2007 to Herndon Oil Company and Shanye Lord of Opp. Lord currently operates stores in Andalusia, Elba and Pike and Coffee counties – three of which remain under the “Mr. Henry’s” name.

Lord serves as Alabama Oilmen’s chairman and presented the honor to Morgan.

“One of the biggest pleasures of my life is to have been associated with the Morgans for so many years; to work with them, to learn their business traits and to translate that into a company of my own,” Lord said. “I owe all that to the Morgans, and I was thrilled to present them with this honor.”