When Heritage FS entered into an acquisition agreement with Pence Oil Company in September of last year, both parties agreed to change very little. Heritage FS saw the legacy that the Pence family had built over their nearly six decades in business and wanted to honor that. Over the months, the station has slowly worked on changing its uniform logo and the truck decals, but the same people that worked there on August 31 still work there today. The station is still full-service, washing windows and pumping fuel for customers, and will continue to offer BP-branded gasoline. “That was our intention from beginning,” said Heritage FS General Manager, Bill Romshek. “We were not about to come in and make major changes that weren’t necessary. Terry (Pence) and Rich (Moyer) know how to run their business and we didn’t want to mess with it.” Instead, Heritage FS was looking for a way to support the Pence family’s plan to continue to be a part of the Watseka community. But sometimes things don’t work out as planned. The Pence Oil Company headquarters building, sitting just east of the station, began to fail over the winter. “We first noticed the ceiling sagging out in the shop area,” said Terry Pence. “We had a structural beam installed to keep everyone who works in the building safe, but that turned out to only be a temporary solution.” Once the engineers came in and began evaluating the building, originally built in the 1940s, they determined the building needed more than roof repairs to keep the building functional. “It really is a safety issue at this point,” Romshek added. Unfortunately, that means the original headquarters will need to come down this summer. “We do not know what the timeline for taking the building down will be, but we wanted the community to know this was a safety measure,” Pence said. While this was not in the original plan when Heritage FS and the Pence family began working together, both parties are looking for the silver lining. “This wasn’t in our game plan,” Romshek said. “But we can now look at what kind of facility will really serve the area and our fuel delivery customers for years to come.” “It will be sad to see the landscape of main street change, but that’s the curse of time,” Pence said. “We feel confident, with the commitment that Heritage FS has made to community, that a new look will be accepted.”