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From: "Alice N" <>
Subject: Pacific Telephone Magazine, November 1926, Pt 4
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:14:27 -0700


Page 61

Dan Cupid has been paying Fruitvale office another visit, and as a result
Miss Mildred Shane is now Mrs. G. C. Dowlen. Also Miss Mildred Fowler
answers to Mrs. Youngston, and Miss Glenden Stubbs to Mrs. Walter Jorgenson.
We congratulate these three happy couples. Happy smiles are being worn by
Miss Grace Enberg and Miss Josephine Combs of Fruitvale office, as they are
both wearing diamond rings. Congratulations, girls.

Mr. Harmon, counter supervisor in the Oakland business office, arrived at
the office unusually cheerful on a recent Monday morning. Mr. Harmon rides a
hobby called baseball every Sunday morning. It appears that on the day
preceeding this particular Monday his team actually emerged from the battle
victorious, for some reason or other, which has not been explained as yet.
Well, we are all glad the losing streak has been broken.

Vacation period is now over at Sacramento and all are settling down to
rotation billing, C.R.L. method of handling long-distance calls, and the new
left-in station practice; altogether, let's go. And we are gaining
stations, too. Many favorable comments are received in connection with the
new restricted repetition practice recently established in the Sacramento
exchange. Our operators' cheery "Thank you" seems to appeal very greatly to
our customers.

The traffic employees at Palo Alto all join in wishing success to Ruby
Hallum, who resigned to train for a nurse in the St. Francis Hospital at San
Francisco. Shortly before Mrs. Hallum left, the girls met at the home of
Mrs. Inez Watkins, clerk, and presented Mrs. Hallum with a purse. The
latter part of the evening was spent devouring a chicken dinner at Dinah's
Shack, where dancing was also enjoyed. The present of their former chief
operator, Mrs. Gertrude Coe, nee Davis, added greatly to the pleasure of
everyone present.

Manager B.A. Glover of Berkeley reports one complete set of our reels of
motion pictures captioned "Fifty Years of Telephone Progress" having been
made available to the director of publicity in the extension division,
University of California, to be used for educational purposes in the science
department. Mr. Meyers, head of this department at the university, is quoted
as saying that among the several thousands of reels of films pertaining to
diversified subjects, and included in the university's library, those of our
manufacture are among the most popular.

Promotions made effective lately in the Oakland district are: Eleanor
Mackenzie, acting chief operator, San Leandro office, is chief operator;
Helen C. Andrews, operator, San Leandro office, is now evening chief
operator; Antoinette J. Jacobs, night operator, Fruitvale office, is night
chief operator. The following employees were promoted to supervisors: Alice
R. Frey, Humboldt; Christle Hageman, Berkeley; Helen F. Haskell, Alameda;
Adelaide Hensley, Merritt; Kathleen J. McNamara, Berkeley; Mary L. Petty,
long-distance office; Dorothy M. Ricketts, Oakland.

The age of speed! A friend of Walter Brunsman, employee in the Oakland
business office, rushed into the office at 12:40 p.m. one day, not long ago,
with this salutation, "Sign me up for telephone service, Walt, I'm in a
hurry." Brunsman, interested, asked why the excitement and hurry? Walt was
stunned with this: "Why, I was married during my lunch hour just ten
minutes ago." Mr. Brunsman extended congratulations and hurriedly proceeded
to serve Mr. Stubblefield so that this "hurry-up artist" would not be late
returning to his office.

Miss Edna Hecker, a former employee of the company, who left our service to
attend the University of California, has again joined the ranks of the
Oakland business office, assuming the duties of the position in Area No. 1
vacated by Mrs. Vera Gray, who has been transferred to the sales unit of
Area No. 2. We are glad to announce the addition of Miss Teddie Durbin to
the Oakland stenographic force. Miss Durbin was transferred from the Western
Electric Company in Seattle, and judging Miss Durbin, we will say that it is
Seattle's loss and Oakland's gain.

On the evening of September 10 members of the Chico Bell Club, with their
families and friends, gathered at the Hooker Oak swimming pool in Bidwell
Park, Chico. There was an attendance of over one hundred. They thoroughly
enjoyed themselves. The entertainment consisted of a recitation by Miss
Eileen Parrish, cashier of the manager's office; music was furnished by
Messrs. Lewis and Spencer of the construction department, and various games
were enjoyed by all until a late hour. Refreshments consisted of wieners
and watermelon, coffee and home-made cake furnished by the traffic
employees. Supervising Foreman C. V. Stewart and Manager W. T. Watts were
in charge of arrangements.

The birthday of Dorothy Perkins, Tulare's silver-toned operator, was the
incentive for an enjoyable lawn party recently. Japanese lanterns lighted
the garden and a glowing bonfire, about which games where played, added
color to the delightful affair. Music was furnished by Lottie and Florence
Lewis, the ukulele sisters, and manager "Len" helped them with a couple of
songs. Refreshments were served and all departed wishing Dot many more
happy birthdays. Traffic employees enjoying the evening were Mesdames Lee
Moreland, Neil Jackson, Harry Thornton, Louie Lewis, Clarence Shirk, and the
Misses Christine Thompson, Fay Gann, Grace Mead, Mat Barnett, Alice Carter,
Maude Kinkade, Helen Huntington, and Edna Bailey.

The Oakland business office has turned to jazz and modernity. The following
members of that department have organized an orchestra known as "The Oakland
Commercial Six." Here is the cast line-up: Mrs. E. Loker, pianist; William
Sutherland, saxophone; Baird Porter, saxophone; Johnny Thompson, saxophone;
Ralph Schultz, tenor banjo; Walter Brunsman, tenor banjo. These clever
musicians have arranged to devote one evening a week to practice at their
respective homes. The orchestra promises Oakland employees several enjoyable
dancing parties during the fall and winter months.

A surprise party and shower were given in honor of Miss Vernita Conger,
operator, Monterey, on October 1 at the home of the chief operator, Miss E.
Fotheringham. The evening was spent in games and cards. After a merry hour
of Dutch whist, prizes were awarded. The first prize was won by Miss
Beatrice Vidal, second by Mary Gale, and a large basket of beautiful and
useful gifts in the form of a consolation prize was presented to the
bride-to-be by twenty-seven of her fellow employees. After the packages were
opened and viewed by all, refreshments were served and the guests departed.

Our new San Francisco Sunset office building opened recently. It is equipped
with one of the finest cafeterias and restrooms in the city. We are all very
happy with our new quarters, and wish to take this opportunity of saying,
"We are very proud of our new building." Mr. Crichton is to be congratulated
for his fine work and ideas that helped to make our new building such a
success. In honor of the opening day a very delicious luncheon was served,
which was a great success. The guests consisted of the Evergreen district
chief operators, Mr. Prescott, Mr. Thrall, Mr. Hunt, and Mr. Crichton.

The dentist that Walter Brunsman, Oakland commercial employee, is delighted
to visit about twice a year is Doctor C.J. Frederick, who is located in the
Easton Building, Oakland. Doctor Frederick is a shareholder and booster for
American Telephone and Telegraph Company stock. During the month of
September Doctor Frederick sent Mr. Brunsman two prospects. One customer
purchased twenty shares of stock and the other four shares under the option
"A" plan. Walter says the moral to this tale is, "Tell your dentist that he
didn't hurt you a bit, and he, out of sheer gratitude, will buy bye and
bye."

On the occasion of the Berkeley Manufacturers Association's regular monthly
meeting and dinner, B. A. Glover, our Berkeley manager, provided the program
for the evening's entertainment, which consisted of several delightful
soprano solos given by Miss Evelyn Kelley accompanied by Mrs. Gloria
Rasmussen at the Steinway. Both of these young ladies are employed in the
Berkeley business office. The musical program was followed with a talk by
Walter S. Reed on telephotography. The entire program was enthusiastically
received, and at its close the president of the association requested that a
rising vote of thanks be given to the telephone company as an expression for
appreciation for the evening's entertainment.

The All-Western Road Show that was located at the foot of Fillmore Street
used, during its stay, one 550-C switchboard with 25 local stations. The
board was installed by Charles Kelm working under the supervision of Mr.
Monaghan. In addition to this service there were five public pay stations
scattered throughout the various tents. The wind and rainstorm that visited
our city caused considerable damage at the road show. The large tent was
blown down and ten of the local telephone stations were temporarily
disconnected due to the falling tent carrying our drop wires with it. This
was soon remedied by the men under the supervision of Frank Monaghan, and it
was not long before complete service was restored.

J.A. Kincaid, our former district traffic superintendent of the San
Francisco suburban district, was the guest of honor at a dinner dance held
at the Hotel Rafael recently. Our chief operators of San Rafael, Mill
Valley, Sausalito, Corte Madera, and Belvedere, and a large number of
operators of these offices, arranged this social event as a formal farewell
to Mr. Kincaid, who is leaving this territory to take a position in the
division traffic office in San Francisco. L. W. Hollingsworth will succeed
Mr. Kincaid. C.F. Cole, division superintendent of traffic of the Coast
Division; C. E. Houseman, district plant chief of San Rafael; Rovert Austin,
manager of San Rafael territory, and Frank Deimel, wire chief of this
district, were among the officials who attended the dinner.

In order to save $2, H.J. Kearns, Modesto manager, recently gave his car a
much-needed wash. Desiring to do a very fancy job, he placed some heavy
burlap sacks under the hood to protect the engine from the water. He had
only ridden about a mile or so the following morning on his way to Turlock
when the air became dense with smoke. A hurried examination developed the
fact that our manager had failed to remove the sacks after washing the car
and they had burst into flames. While Kearns is not exactly a Scotch name,
he followed the instincts of that great race by carefully folding up the
remains of the gunny sacks and placing them between the trunk and spae tire,
accomplishing a saving thereby of somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 cents.
He then resumed his trip, with the difference that whereas the smoke had
formerly poured out of the hood it now came in dense masses from the spare
tire. Passersby hurled unintelligible remarks at Harold, but he took them
for the usual greetings to which a telephone manager is accustomed.
Finally, one big-hearted motorist breezed up beside the swiftly moving
Studebaker, leaned far out of his car and yelled, "Hey, yer on fire!" This
was sufficient, and with a squeal of the brakes, his car came to a second
stop and the necessary fire-prevention methods were put into effect. Before
the air had cleared enough to resume travel along the highway he had hastily
patched his trousers enough to make a presentable appearance and was again
on his way. His only complaint is that he was compelled to abandon seven or
eight cents' work of good sacks along the highway.

The following changes have been made effective in our San Francisco office:
Bernice M. Crowley, Market; Jessie L. Dungan, Kearny; Mildred E. Fottler,
Telegraph; Beth Klessinger, Davenport; Catherine M. McDonald, Hemlock;
Florence I. McKee, Douglas; Bertha Reinhard, Sutter Extension; Millicent A.
Ridgway, Kearny office, and Helen M. Sentman, Sunset, have been promoted to
supervisors. The following have become central office clerks: Linda M.
Erickson, Pacific; Marie C. Hubachek, Garfield; Jessie E. McDougall,
Valencia; May C. McQueen, Park; Eugenia C. Rossi, Douglas. Irene F. Flynn,
evening chief operator, Pacific office, is now chief operator, West office;
Rose E. Hatch, evening central office instructor, West office, is evening
chief operator, Market office; Annis P. Hendricks, evening central office
instructor, pacific office, is now evening chief operator.

Miss Lillian Lindo, formerly our Wet chief operator in San Francisco, was
appointed centralized intercepting chief operator. Mrs. Irene Flynn was
recently promoted to the position of West chief operator, and was honored by
a surprise luncheon given by the girls of West office on the day of her
arrival. Everyone had an enjoyable time. Among those present were: Mr.
Manildi, traffic chief; Miss Kendrick, Miss Fluegler, Miss Dempsey, Mrs.
Carroll, Miss Gray, Miss Rae, Miss McIntyre, Miss Guptill, Miss Mon Santo
(could this have been a joke??), Miss Harrigan, Miss Selleck, Miss James,
and Mrs. Curran. Miss Stegeman, chief operator at our San Francisco Pacific
office, was hostess at a dainty little luncheon in honor of Miss Flynn. The
guests were: Misses Flynn, Chase, Blackwell, and Ogden; Messrs. Thrall,
Hunt, and Manildi. Mrs. Rose Hatch, West central office instructor in San
Francisco, was promoted to the position of Market evening chief operator. We
are all very happy to hear of her advancement.

The following is a letter received by one of our managers from one of the
local newspapers: "Dear Sir: I feel there is some explanation due you for
the error made in the advertisement you sent us regarding notice to
customers of a billing change. Our foreman is ordinarily a very careful man,
making great efforts to get things done right, especially in making up
advertisements; his copy seldom needs correcting; but in your case he got
the name of the company wrong and listed your name incorrectly as 'E.R.
Johnson' instead of 'E.R. Gardner.' In addition to this he confused the
advertisement with a railroad advertisement, and generally almost wrecked
the place. Our explanation of this is that this copy was made up on the day
that he got married. We expect to keep this foreman on the job because, as
state above, he is ordinarily very careful, and I am confident he will not
be getting married again for some time at least. If I can be on any service
to you in clearing up these errors, please command me."

This is the end of the Northern California section, and I hope you have
enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed posting it!!



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