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By Andrea Flores for the Fowler Tribune Posted Oct. 4, 2013 Fowler, Colorado — Ten ladies who worked as telephone operators back in the 1940s met at the Bunkhouse for a Telephone Operators Reunions of sorts. Back in the 1940s when you dialed a phone number you would hear one of their voices say, “Number please.” They would connect your call manually through a switchboard. “Oh, the stories we could tell,” they joked while reminiscing. But they didn’t dare for fear of losing their jobs. “We knew some stuff that could get a lot of people in hot water back then,” said Burna Dean Stamps. Stamps worked for the telephone company from November of 1947 until her retirement in 1992. The telephone company was a big source of employment for many women from the community of Fowler, with pay ranging from 60 cents to 75 cents per hour. Some worked the night shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. while others worked part-time or after school. Dorothy Baker worked as an operator in 1943, during her sophomore year in high school for 60 cents per hour. “I worked after school until 10 p.m.,” Baker said. “We would call Herb Green every morning to wake him up so he wouldn’t be late for work, that’s how he and Anna Jean met,” said Baker. Anna Jean worked there for five years. They giggled and laughed remembering times when they would accidentally fall asleep and wake up to a switchboard that was lit up with incoming calls. “When people were going to be away from home they would ask us to transfer their calls to so and so’s house,” Baker said. They fondly remembered Barney Kitchen. He would come in the office to use the phone to call long distance but he always brought them chocolates and left them a tip. “I remember when Gene Autry and Harry Knight bought the Flying A Ranch, the telephone line was on a fence post,” Baker said. But in September of 1963 things changed for the operators, modern technology stepped in and Fowler went to dial service, which meant a lot of changes. People had their own telephone numbers, which meant downsizing with operators. The women were faced with changes, either stay with the company and commute or transfer or take a severance package. Several chose to take the severance package and stay home to start their families, while a few, Louise Fosdick, Jane Gray, Burna Dean Stamps and Norma Jean Blodgett chose to commute to Pueblo and continue to work for the company then known as Mountain Bell. I asked how many of them had cellphones. Several raised their hands but most admitted to not using them on a regular basis, only for emergencies. “The last time we were all together was for the funeral of our co-worker Kathryn Cross. We decided to gather for lunch just because and not just for funerals,” Stamps said. Those in attendance and their years of service to the telephone company were: Burna Dean Stamps, 45 years; Louise Fosdick, 43 years; Jane Gray, 25 years; Jean Petrie, 15 years; Freda Jones, 12 years; Norma Jean Blodgett, eight years; Marybeth McCuistion seven years and Dorothy Baker, Anna Jean Green and Polly Jensen each with five years. Those were the days. Ladies, thanks for sharing your memories and keeping your secrets! From The Fowler Tribune

Click:  John Ashurst Bio

 

Picture by:   Andrea Flores

Pictured (left to right) are Clyde Butler, Betty and Gerald Clark enjoying lunch at the Senior Center.
(Fowler Tribune - creative commons permission)

Celebrating 50 years with friends in Las Vegas.
Left, Maxine Adcock, Don Dennis, Melverta and Jim Bauer, Jo Ann Palmer

 

Front Left: Teena Weiland, Ann Dennis, Larry Adcock, Maxine Adcock,
Paul Weiland, Jo Ann Palmer, Melverta Bauer.
Behind:  Don Dennis and Jim Bauer

Richard and Veree Pickerel - 50th Anniversary July 2011

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Left, clockwise:  Claudia Poage, Ann Dennis, John Denning,
Dale Poage and Don Dennis.     May 2010

Mirror given to 1957 Graduates, FHS.