PRETTY PHONE GIRLS FROM EARLIER DAYS
March 17, 1983

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PIX #1 - The only two who can be identified in this
picture is Emma Fuhrs who is in the back row on the left, and Elizabeth
Miller, who is in the back row on the right.
PIX #2 - Picture titled Who is this?
Another contributor to "Feedback" on the telephone series
was "Am" Sendelbach, 534 N. Main St. He remembered his mother had
worked for the early telephone company in Fostoria before she was
married, when her name was Emma Saddora Fuhrs.
She is in today's feature photo showing 10 pretty "hello
girls" from the lat- ter part of the last century.
The only two faces Sendelbach can identify are described
in the caption. On the left is Miss Fuhr and the other is Elizabeth
Miller. She married E. An- dres and after his death married John Reber.
PHONE CALL FROM TIFFIN
Elnora (Kibler) Needles, of Tiffin, said her name was
not included with the list of telephone operators.
She also gave me the name of Ethel (Hill) Goebel, another
operator whose name was omitted. Later, Mrs. Goebel also called I
had warned that some names would be missed since I did not have a
roster.
OTHER NAMES FOR PHOTO
In the first telephone article, there appeared a photo
of operators at Bell at 117 E. North St. None of the operators seated
at the switchboard were identi- fied. Virginia (Hicks) Krupp telephoned
to provide the following list.
They are, reading from right: Margaret Jones, Esther
Slosser, Irma Reeves, Pauline Norris, Bea Graschel, Peg Massie, Helen
Romig, Mabel Smith, Cecelia Youngston or Dolores Dunn and Mary Renner.
FORMER FOSTORIAN WRITES ABOUT PHONE ARTICLES
"Last week, Hazel Hindmon mailed me your articles about
the phone company. Wanted to tell you I remember my grandparents,
Peter and Sarah Dennis had a phone when I was small. I remember that
they could only phone people who sub- scribed to the company that
had the same system.
"The following was told to me by my parents, John and
Ida May Dennis. On Christmas Eve they went to church early that evening
with my two older sisters and a brother. They had to leave early and
go home. On West North Street (south side) lived a Miss Jones who
worked for the telephone company. My parents lived on Vine Street
between North and Center.
"Sometime that night my father walked through the back
yard to Miss Jones' home to phone a doctor. Also sometime between
midnight and morning, a baby girl was born on Dec. 25, 1905. The baby
was named Ruth Ellen Dennis. I don't know what Miss Jones thought
about being awakened that night to phone a doctor! This story was
very clear since I later attended school with her twin nieces, Elizabeth
and Pearl Ropp.
"Also want to tell you, Paul, how much I enjoy your
'Potluck.' From the time I could read, I hunted the McClean Public
Library (Kaubisch Memorial) and have very fond memories of Ella Robbins
and Harriet Musser."
Ruth Ellen Dennis Barnes
OLD PHONE GIRL WRITES FROM FLORIDA
Wilma Jarvis, a former phone girl from Fostoria, wintering
in Ft. Myers, Fla., with her aunt Mary Jane Griffin, wrote about the
phone articles.
The article she read contained a list of names of telephone
operators. She detected her name missing, as well as others. So in
addition to Wilma Jarvis, we must add Eileen Martin Waltermire, Thelma
McClung Kovac, Charlotte Broyles, Esther Schlosser Moore, Ellen McCullough,
Helen DiAngelo and Violet Stone. Several of the latter names were
provided by Vera Earl Stoneberger.
WEST CENTER STREET STORY
Helen M. Agnew, a Fostorian, sent the following letter
from Sarasota, Fla.:
"I have a correction to make on the article about Mann's
Funeral Home, as stated in the paper dated Feb. 3, 1983. After renting
from the Myers family for several years, Mann's purchased the home
(building) and continued the fun- eral business in the same location.
The casket factory at the rear was never owned by Myers, but by Mann's
as stated in the original article. Thank you. We enjoy 'Potluck' very
much.
WHO IS IT?
Some weeks ago, Mayor Ken Beier turned over to "Potluck"
a letter and photo which he had received addressed to "city manager."
"Dear anyone: Just going through a quantity of old letters
and such at my stamp shop today and ran across this grand old photo.
On the off chance that someone might know who she was, I am sending
it in your direction. No need to return."
Sincerely,
Michael Heinn
Santa Ana, Calif. The
photo was taken by Charles Gribble Studio in Fostoria
about the turn of the century. I beleive I have seen the picture somewhere
previously, but I do not know who the lady was. Perhaps one of Fostoria's
senior citizens may have one like it tucked away in an old album with
the name attached. Let me know if you do.