Who You Gonna Call?

Rose Hengel began operating the Cabool, Missouri telephone exchange in 1916. For many years she was "Central" to people in and around Cabool. 

Photo courtesy of

  
Cabool Historical Society  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

On our farm, we were on a telephone party line that included Aunt Zella’s family, Grandma and Grandpa Walls, Uncle Warren’s family, Ralph Odom’s family and several other neighbors. When my older brother, Keith, started going to school Aunt Zella would phone Mom when the school bus left her house. Since our house was off the main gravel road about a quarter mile, this gave Keith time to walk up the big hill to meet the school bus without waiting.

Unfortunately by the time I started going to school they had changed the bus route so the bus didn’t go past Aunt Zella’s place. On real cold or rainy days we sure wished we could still get Aunt Zella’s call so we could time our arrival to avoid waiting for the bus.

Aunt Zella was Dad’s sister. She and her husband, Orvill Sullivan, lived about two miles from our house. Orvill was employed by the Frisco railroad and was required to have a telephone so they could contact him if he was needed in case of a train accident.

Uncle Orvill is the reason we got a telephone at our farm about 1940. Dad often worked with Uncle Orvill and his sons on the farm or installing and repairing the telephone line.

I’m pleased that two of Aunt Zella and Uncle Orvill’s grandchildren and three of their great-grandchildren work with us here at Woodpro.

On our party line our phone signal was two long and two short rings. Grandma’s signal was one long and one short ring. Aunt Zella’s signal was one long and two short rings.

To call people who weren’t on our party line you called "central" in Cabool, which was one long ring, and told her who you wanted to call. Central was a living and breathing person and she seemed to know the whereabouts of everyone around Cabool that had a phone. If there was an emergency she could let everyone know who needed to know right away. This 1940’s system was the essence of today’s "911 emergency system".

For an emergency - like fire on the back 40 (acres) we might call Grandpa first and pray later. We had plenty of faith in the God of the Universe but we also knew that with one quick call to Grandpa, two uncles and other eavesdropping neighbors would know about the fire and soon come to our aid - we couldn’t be as sure of God’s plans for the day!

It was common for people to "eavesdrop" on other calls on the party line. On calls from Mom to Grandma Walls or from Aunt Zella to Grandma Walls it just saved time for the other party to listen in or more often than not a two way conversation would become a three or four way conversation. Similar to our modern-day conference calls.

If you had talkative neighbors on your party line and you were in a hurry to place your call, it gave meaning to the recent term "call waiting".

On the farm during my teenage years my Dad, older brother and Uncle Warren Walls worked at jobs in town so my cousins (Uncle Warren’s boys) and I became responsible for putting up hay. Sometimes the telephone was handy to decide whether to cut hay or not depending on the weather. Often by telephone I discussed options with my cousins and Grandpa. We were then usually able to solve problems and make decisions.

I was proud to be a part of the problem solving because just a few short years earlier when others were out and I answered the phone to relay a message I was usually admonished, "LeRoy, be sure you get it straight!" I’m still trying to keep it all straight and so are the fine Woodpro folks you talk to over the telephone.

So, if you need to order cabinetry or have a cabinet problem, I hope you’ll call Woodpro Cabinetry. If you’ve got a fire out on your South 40 - ask for me - that’s one subject where I’m the most experienced to handle your call. However, based on my past fire-fighting success rate, Glen recommends you try prayer!

12/31/1999