--Nostalgia/ A Time to Remember ~~

--AT WORK ~~

-AUNT IDA RANG THE TOWN

--1950s, PENNSYLVANIA- During every single summer until my 11th year, I spent most of my vacation with my grandparents John and Ida Guthrie in Kuhntown. I would weed their vegetable garden and ride horses while hauling massive bales of hay from their fields.

But one of my favorite things to do was watch my grandmother perform her duties for the 'Kuhntown Telephone Company'. My grandmother was the company's chief (and only) operator. She handled 20 to 25 calls each day at one of the oldest switchboards in the state. She said she enjoyed "visiting" with all her neighbors as she made the various connections for them. Everyone called her Aunt Ida. Grandma was paid $124 each year for her operator duties.

Sometimes she let me help her. There were only four lines, but each family on the line had its own ring, such as "two short and three long" or "one long and two short." The operator would plug in the line and then turn the handle to generate the correct ring. Ultimately, Grandma taught me to run the switchboard on my own.

On October 1954, the Pittsburgh Press wrote an article on Kuhntown's telephone company. During her interview, Grandma mentioned that she listened to Tello-Test Quiz, a quiz program on Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, and that she'd like to try her hand at it. Well, host Jim Westover read the article and called Grandma the next day.
'Shure enough, she won $60 because she did indeed know the answer to the question! ~~
--From: RD/Reminisce~~