Did you know?
Did You Know?
These days, I make frequent calls on a telephone that I’ve never even seen.
When I drove my new Buick off the car lot last year, it came equipped with what’s known as a “hands-free” phone.
All I have to do is push a button and tell it the number I’d like to call. And it calls it for me.
My how things have changed.
Back in February of 1950, it was considered to be a big deal just to be able to avoid live telephone operators, by using a dial attached to your phone.
“Dial Phones are Coming, And With Them A Lot of Changes,” was the headline above a front-page, Uniontown Evening Standard story, written by Walter J. Storey, that trumpeted the latest in telephone technology.
“Uniontown is experiencing the first stages of conversion from ‘number please?’ by word of mouth, to twirling on the do-it-yourself system… In other words, the dials are coming,” Storey proclaimed.
Before the “conversion,” you’d have to pick up the telephone and ask an operator to put you through to the party you’d wish to call.
But the change would mean that 4,000 of the telephone customers in the city of Uniontown (one third of the total customers) would be given dial phones initially, while the rest of the city would get them within a year.
But there was another change about to take place. From that point on, people would be given five numbers (each starting with the number “8”) to call within the city.
Before that time, you could get through by instructing the operator to dial as few as one number. In fact, all you had to do to make a call to the Evening Standard at the time was ask for the number “1”.
There was even a “How to Use Uniontown Dial Telephones” booklet, in which it was explained that: a dial tone made a “hum-m-m” sound; a “burr-r-ring” sound indicated the telephone on the other end was ringing; and “buzz-buzz-buzz,” let the caller know the other person’s line was busy.
Of course, the inimitable Mr. Storey couldn’t resist having a little fun. He add, “So far, no burp.”
Nearly two weeks after the “dial phone” was announcement, readers of the Evening Standard learned that a 1944 Uniontown High School graduate had achieved quite an honor.
Pat Campbell was only 23 years-old in February of 1950, but the Evening Standard reported that she was the “Youngest National Magazine Editor.”
Campbell was pictured on the Evening Standard’s front page on Feb. 14, 1950, with singer and actor Gordon MacRae.
She’d been named the editor of two publications, “Movies Magazine,” and “Movie Thrills Magazine.”
While “Movie Thrills Magazine” only published four issues, “Movies Magazine” published 77 issues from 1950 until 1956.
“Movies Magazine” specialized in placing some of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the day (Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe and Rock Hudson) on its front covers.
It’s been 27 years since Buffington native and 1966 Uniontown High School graduate Bob Cenker climbed aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
On Jan. 13, 1986, the 24th space shuttle flight had taken off from Cape Canaveral without a hitch, despite being 25 days late, because of six flight delays.
Cenker was the payload specialist on the flight. He helped deploy an RCA Satcom Ku-1 television satellite, which sent back telecommunications from space for millions of people until it was retired in July 1997.
It’s easy singing the praises of Bob Cenker. After all, he was my high school classmate.
But, too, it’s safe to say no Uniontown High School graduate has reached Cenker’s heights — 212 nautical miles, and none has gone the farther — 2,528,658 miles, while circumnavigating the earth 98 times.
But there’s more. If a man can be judged by the company he keeps, Cenker, through the luck of the draw, gained a few points in that regard between Jan. 12 and Jan. 18, 1986.
One of Cenker’s crewmates, Franklin Ram贸n Chang D铆az, was the third Latin American, and the first Costa Rican in space. He’s now a member of NASA’s Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Bill Nelson was a member of the U.S. House when he traveled aboard that flight. He was only the second sitting member of Congress to go into space. He’s now a U.S. senator from Florida.
And the pilot of the flight, Charles Bolden, was only the second African-American to pilot a space shuttle. The 1986 flight was Bolden’s first of four space shuttle flights.
But his NASA career was far from over. In July 2009, Bolden became the first African-American to become the permanent head of NASA.
It’s a position he still holds.