TELEPHONES
We had rotary dial phones and we didn't have to dial the
prefix. For example, I think our home phone number was 552-5143, but we only
had to dial 2-5143. The outlying rural areas had party lines. I once had a
boyfriend, Mark Ramsey, who lived in Oklaunion. When I was in Jr. High, it was
popular for boyfriends to call their girlfriends and visit in the evenings. (I
was always told that I was NOT to call a boy. They must call me. It was not
proper in our home for girls to chase boys.) Since he was in a rural area, his
phone was a party line, meaning that several households shared the same number.
Obviously, when someone picked up the line and interrupted our visit, we had to
yield to their need to make a call. Long distance calls were a big deal. We had
to dial 0 and let the operator work the number until the party was reached.
Since we paid by the minute, I was cautioned about the expense involved in
calling long distance. We could call collect which meant that the person you
were calling would be the one to foot the bill. So when Bill was stationed in
Vietnam and called collect, I did not accept the call....and later so regretted
it when I saw the disappointment that we were not able to visit with him. Being
naive, I didn't think it was my place to accept that expense. I tried to follow
the rule book. For Christmas one year
when I was a freshman, I asked for and received a Princess phone. The phone
company came out and placed a line (not a private one) in my bedroom.
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