Mabel Durbin DeNoon-Switchboard Operator Extraordinaire!
Picture probably taken in the early sixties.


Hilma Aston Stewart-The Ultimate Switchboard Operator.

Greetings And A Good Day To You.

One never knows where and when an idea will pop up and especially an idea for a stat. Dotty's niece wanted a picture of Dotty's oldest sister, Mabel Durbin DeNoon. Two pictures were found and I scanned both and sent them to the niece. One of the pictures was of Mabel when she worked as a telephone switchboard operator. Well, I got to thinking and came up with an idea for a stat-"The Telephone Switchboard Operator". Don't know much about a switchboard, so please bear with me. The following is only an old retiree's ideas and I may have most of it incorrect. Hum, bet that I will hear from some people in the know about "Switchboards".

What is a "Telephone Switchboard" anyway? Well, it is just what is says. It is a work station where an operator can switch or connect/disconnect telephone lines. It consisted of a vertical board with row after row of jacks (holes) about a half inch in diameter. The back of the holes had wiring attached to them and when a plug was inserted in a jack, a circuit was completed. The wiring on the back of the board was bundled and tagged and was considered the "Out" bundle. The "In" bundle wiring came up to a horizontal board where the operator sat. A plug was connected to each wire. It was the operators job to make the correct connection by inserting the correct plug into the correct jack. Remember on the Andy Griffith show where Barney would pick up a phone, and tell the operator-"Sarah, Barn, get me the diner". Well, Sarah would take the plug that was connected to Barney's phone and insert it into the hole that went to the "Diner's" phone. The diner's phone would ring, and when it was answered, a circuit light, for that connection, would let the operator know that the two parties were connected. When either Barney or the diner hung up, the circuit light would go out and the switchboard operator would know to pull the plug from the board. Not bad if you are only dealing with one plug and one jack, but in real life there was many lines to be connected and disconnected and an operator could certainly stay busy.

There were "Local Switchboards" and there were "Central Switchboards". In the "Local Switchboard", every phone in the town or community would be connected to a jack and if a person wanted to talk to their neighbor, the switchboard operator would connect the two jacks. To make a "Long Distant" call, the operator would connect the local phone to a central location, and from there it could go through several switchboards until it reached the local switchboard where the final operator would make the connection to the household that the caller wanted. And you wondered why a call to Chicago could cost several dollars.



Remember several years ago when Lily Tomlin was a popular TV personality. She played several parts on TV shows and I think at one time she had her own show. One of the characters of Lily's was "Geraldine The Switchboard Operator". She would take an incoming call, continue to twist her mouth, roll her eyes, and talk in such a monotone that it was quite hilarious. During this period of time she would be giving the caller a hard time and taking forever to make the connection. She also played a small girl in a very large rocker, but that is another time and possibly another stat. Hum, wonder why we have all of this unk on TV now and not some of the good old shows.

Well Hilma and Mabel, the previous mentioned phone operators, were not like Lily. Instead they were just the opposite. They were serious and well mannered. They were customer orientated and eager to supply the customer's every demand. Now, once they got off work, their demeanor may have changed. I can't vouch what they did then.

Hilma started with the phone company at Central City and later transferred to Owensboro, a larger switchboard. She worked her way up to the payroll section and eventually retired from South Central Bell. Mabel worked for a phone company in Kansas City, Missouri and retired from there. My hat comes off in a salute to these two fine phone operators and the countless others that made our life, in the "Olden Days" a little easier.

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for looking.
See you.........
jrd

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