The Rural Electrification Administration approved a loan of $545,000 for the Armstrong Phone Company to acquire the Cecil Farmers Telephone Company in 1962. In addition to purchasing the assets of the enterprise, a series of improvements, including a direct dial system and a new central office, were planned. On the day the announcement was made, the Cecil Democrat stopped by and took a picture of the operators juggling the cords and making the connections. On that day in June 1962 Miss Helen Orr, Mrs. Frieda Tome, Mrs. Glenn Meeks, Mrs. Helen Gibson worked the board, while Mrs. Jewelyne Doyle supervised the work. Finally in 1963 an era ended as the switchboard was unplugged and Rising Sun changed over to dial-up service.
For more on the telephone in Cecil County, see the Telephone Operator in Elkton
What’s the matter? Didn’t these telephone operators have first names?
Some of those telephone operators decided that they were Mrs. so and so, using their husband’s first name for the newspaper. But some of them used their first names.