g . S.'iHf .'OTTOEEft 6. tf63 MEDKORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD. OREGON 0
Early Medford Telephone Operator Recalls Some Experiences
By EVA HAMILTON
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
Many are the tales a telephone
operator of the early days could
tell 11 she would lain.
She worked before the word
"automation" was coined. She
worked in an era when the
"wonderful invention" needed a
warm heart and sympathetic
ear as well as human hands to
keep it operating in the manner
to whicn patrons so quicmy ne
came accustomed.
With these statements, Mrs.
H. R. Burk of 111 King St., Med
ford, agrees. She is the former
Edna Eifert, one of Medford s
earliest telephone operators-
one of the first voices to re
spond to "Hello Central."
When the exchange was new
an'l communications poor, she
ofcen had to repeat the conver
sation for both participants.
Had To Be Trusted
"Central," as she was called
and she was frequently called,
just had to be trusted and she
could be. The "hello" girl's lips
were sealed then and Edna's
are today. "VIP" and "top sec
ret" were not in her vocabulary
but observance of the Golden
Rule was in her charactor.
Considering the exodus of fam
ilies into this valley from the
east when Mrs. Burk was with
the telephone company, it is no
wild supposition to believe that
there were many long distance
rails put through the Medford
exchange.
There were many romances
in the making and in the break
ing. Many big financial deals
were being firmed up in Med
ford's "Boom Days." Mrs. Burk
could probably write a book
with a different angle on south
ern Oregon history, just by quot
ing those conversations, but any
one who thinks she is about to
betray that trust is just a
dreamer.
Will Not Be Told
The persons involved may be
"no longer of this world" but
their conversations on the Bell
telephone will not be told.
There were several telephone
companies i n early Medford,
present files of Pacific North
west Bell reveal.
There was thj old Sunset com
pany, probably the first; the
Pacific Slates company and the
Home Telephone and Telegraph
company. It was for Pacific
that Edna worked.
There were two telephone dir
ectories during one period of
the early lWXIs with telephone
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MWMi iif i b i urn i v i ii ' i ii i Hi imi . a0tim
ENJOYS REMINISCENCE Recalling events early in this cen
tury in Ada, Ohio, and Medford, Ore., to which she came in 1904,
Mrs. H. R. Burk, best known as "Edna," described an era only
a few people remember. She was interviewed at her home regard
ing her experiences as a telephone operator and a soloist.
tral. Narrow escapes from dis
aster and dpalh were snmetimes
exchanges in Medford and Ash
land. The fire department and
the police department had num
bers with each. If the person re
porting a fire or trying to call
police failed to get a response
from the number in Directory
No. 1, the patron was advised
to "call central" and ask for
the Directory, No. 2, number.
In Drug Store
When Edna became operator,
the switchboard was in the back
of Strang's Drug store on Main
street. It was Charles Strang,
father of Fred Strang of Med
ford, who got the exchange es
tablished here. It failed to serve
more than 15 or IB patrons until
he granted free tolls to Jackson
ville, then tne county scat.
The exchange remained in the
drug store until 10, when it
was moved to North Central
ave., the present location of the
Western Thrift store.
"Hello, Edna," was the com
mon greeeting in those days.
The joys, the sorrows of many
made possible by the telephone
girl.
Recalls Hearing Voire
Edna recalls a voice whisper
ing "I'm so sick." She im
mediately knew from whom the
call had come and summoned
the woman's husband. He ar
rived at his home in time to
bring her out of a heart attack.
He later told the operator he
asked his wife why she hadn't
called him and she replied "I
knew Edna would find you."
In town, all calls came through
"central". Knowing this, the re
porter asked Edna a number of
questions regarding Medford
events and people, Her repeated
answer was "I can't tell you
about that."
Her husband, a former Salem
resident who came to Medford
as building superintendent for
construction of the Jackson
county courthouse annex, thinks
It is quite a coincidence that
phone operator in the early life
of a communication systemShe
was Nancy Crabtree, first
switch board operator in Cam
bridge, Iowa.
Some families go through life
floating along on the edge of the
stream or just treading water
in the quiet pools. Others seem
destined to swim in the main
current all the way. As a result
their names become linked with
history of a business, of a town
or a nation dependent upon the
area of their endeavors. They
are participants in events that
will be remembered; associates
of persons, successful and un
successful, but known. The Eif
ert family was one of these.
When Edna was a young girl
in Ohio her father was a Demo
crat, There are still Democrats
in Ohio and there's nothing so
memorable about that. But since
he was a Democrat when the
famous Commoner, Will jam
Jennings Bryan, was running
tor president and his daughter
Edna was invited to sing on the
same platform with the "silver
tongued orator," it is remem
bered. A tour to Niagara Fills in
1901 with the chorus from her
college was not a momentous
occasion, in itself. But when
the chorus arrived to hear that
the president of the United
States had been shot by an an
archist just Vb hours earlier in
nearby Buffalo, that, too, was
not to he forgotten.
President McKmley, a native
of Ohio, died a week after the
shooting to go down in history
as another "assassinated presi
dent." Mrs. Burk was a student at
Ohio Northern University at Ada
on that September day in 1901.
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DRESSED FOR THE STAGE This picture was taken of Mrs.
Burk when she was a young girl prepared to step upon the plat
form for one of her many appearances as a soloist. Through song
she felt she served her maker best.
The university must have been
even at the turn of the century,
a school which offered a wide
program. For, although Mrs.
Burk was a music major, she
was prepared in the commercial
field, too.
Coming to Medford, she op
erated the telephone company's
families were reported to cen-lhis first wife was also a tele
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482-21 16, Ashland
Detractors of television pro
gramming seem to maintain a
favorite theme: that program
schedules are shaped far too
much to the tastes of the mass
audience and do not adequately
meet the demands of the cul
tivated, who hunger for more
specialized fare and are being
alienated because television
does not satisfy this hunger.
This is the reason, the critics
of television araue. that people
in the higher-educated, higher
economic groups are "light
viewers." And on this assump
tion, they build another that
the licht viewer confines his set
ection to TV's heavier material
of culture and information,
twisting his dial in frustration,
while the heavy viewer satiates
himself with light entertain
ment, lolling before his set, sub
sisting on an uninterrupted diet
of situation comedies, westerns
and game shows.
This cliche is having a tougn
time standing up against some
recent research statistics. In a
report recently presented be
fore the American Association
for Public Opinion Research,
Dr. Thomas E. Coffin, NBC's
Director of Research, came up
with some different findings.
Dr. Coffin examined viewers'
nrneram selections not on
the basis of viewers' education
or income but by amount of
viewing. Using the Nielsen In
dex of measured hours of view
ing, he divided the audience in
to five numerically equal
groups. He then compared the
viewing habits of the extreme
groups those that watched
least with those that watched
most.
As you might expect, enter
tainment drew the heaviest
viewers. Specifically, in the
heaviest viewing group, the
number who watched one or
more of a selected group of
entertainment programs was 31
per cent greater than the num
ber who watched any of a group
of information presentations.
But as you might not expect,
among the lightest viewers the
gap in preference for entertain
ment over information was far
greater. In this group, 7.1 per
cent more watched entertain
ment than had watched any of
the information programs.
Another variation on this
theme emerged from another
source, the American Research
Bureau dairies for one week.
In this analysis 62 per rent of
the heavv viewers watched
"talk'' programs, including
news, discussion and educa
tion shows, whereas only 21 per
cent of the light viewers
watched them.
In commenting on the1 finds.
NBC's Robert Samoff. chair
man of the board, suggests one
runs a risk in assuming that
light viewing is a cultural status
symbol or that a schedule over
loaded with specialized pro
gramming ' will of necessity
prompt the light viewer to
change his ways
Mr. Samoff believes the light
viewers are people who have
developed a wide range of re
sources for filling their leisure
hnnrs and nurstiine their intel-
C loctual interests. Television is
less important in their (oirr.il
scheme of things They turn to
television, as do most people,
chiefly (or entertainment, hut
since thev do less viewing thev
I are less aware of the scope and
diversity of programming avail
able to them. Consequently,
they are less selective than the
habitual viewers in the use of
the TV sets.
Of course, there are those
who will take issue with him in
regard to the scope and diver
sity of TV programming. But
there are many good things on
television that the light viewer
might easily miss; and that's
the purpose of this column to
point out some of the programs
that sound unusual or better
than average.
switchboard. She later super
vised the telephone operators,
was bookkeeper for Warner -Wortman
and Gore, one of the
city's largest groceries; cashier
and bookkeeper for Hutchison
and Lumsden General Mercan
tile store, operator of the U. S.
post office substation on Bartlett
street and secretary to the ar
penter's Local Union.
Ready To Repeat
Knowing people in all sections
I of Jackson county, she was
I rated as the cub reporter's best
Iriend. she was always ready
to report visitors from the Ap
plegate, Brownsboro, Ashland,
Gold Hill and Prospect when
"towning" was regarded as
news in the Local and Personal
column.
The Eifert family, W. W. Eif
ert, who became mayor of Med
ford, Mrs. Eifert, their five
daughters and one son, came to
Medford at the insistence of
Charley and Callie Palm, who
had arrived earlier. Mrs. Palm
was Mr. Eifert's sister. Their
stories of the southern Oregon
country led the Eiferts to hire
a coach on the Southern Pacific
and start west.
Medford was about the sire of
Ada, but Ada was old and Med
ford was new and Ada was a
college town. The Eiferts soon
found, however, that there was
a migration into Jackson county
of "people interested in the
better things of life." Their
daughters had been given the
"advantages," training in elo
cution and music. Edna soon
moved into the productions of
the Andrews Opera comoanv.
church choirs and lodge func
tions. She, also, sang at funer
als.
Refuses To Sing
"People who think there Is
race prejudice here now should
have been here then," she com
mented last week. "There was
on Negro family in town. The
man's wife died. The regular
soloist for the undertaking par
lor refused to sing at a Negro
funeral."
The late John Perl, whose fun
eral home was then on Bartlett
St., came to Edna. "Of course,
I II sing," she remembers telling
Perl. Later the grateful Negro
came to pay her. She refused
to take the money but at Christ
MORMON CONFERENCE,
10 a.m. Sunday KBES-TV. The
1.13rd semi-annual conference of
the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is broadcast
from the Tabernacle in Salt
Lake City. The famed Taber
nacle Chorale will sing.
MORMON CONFERENCE, 2
p.m. Sunday KBOY-FM. Radio
broadcast of the same confer
ence, President David O. Mc
Kay presiding.
JUDY GARLAND. 9 D.m.
Sunday KBES-TV. Gooree
Maharis, TV adventurer turned
singer, and comedian Jack Car
ter join Judy.
A MAN NAMED MAYS, 10
p.m. Sunday KMED-TV. Willie
Mays is up against some stiff
competition tonieht Liz Tav-
lor. This program reviews the
career of one of baseball's
superstars who many baseball
men have termed the createst
all-around player in the history
of the game.
LIZ IN LONDON, 10 p.m.
Sunday KBES-TV. Elizabeth
Taylor was born in London and
recently has spent some well
publicized months there. But to
night's show foregoes romance
and focuses on historic London
as seen through the eyes of a mas was recipient of a "beau'
rjcaulitul guide and on scenes tiful grft from him.
of her childhood. The first movie theater Edna
remembers in Medford was the
Old Savoy, at which she sang.
It was located on North Front
st. The words of songs were
flashed on the screen. She also
sang at the Page theater on
East Main at Bear creek. It
was gutted by fire in the 1920s.
Glamorous Moment
One of her most "glamorous
moments", however, was sing
ing the role of the Queen in "lo
lanthe", which was presented
at the fairgrounds by the And
rews Opera Company under aus
pices of the Greater Medford
club.
Her costume was shipped
from San Francisco for the pro
duction. The opposite in costum
ing was experienced when she
consented to fill in as Katisha
in "The Mikado". The singer to
be imported for the role failed
to appear. Edna had been play
ing one of the Three Little Maids
in an attractive makeup. She
still remembers the comments
of the late James Stevens, who
got her ready for the part.
Another treasured recollection
of her singing career takes her
back to World War I. She was a
member of a chorus invited to
sing with Madame Schumann
Heink when the famous opera
star came to Ashland to raise
funds for the American Red
Cross. Madame Schumann -Hcink,
who had sons in (he
American army, the German
army and the German navy
sang in camps and for Red
Cross chapters throughout the
United States.
Entertainment was through
participation in the early 1900s.
Recalls Serenades
Edna recalls the many occa
sions upon which her sister, Jes
sie, now Mrs. E. N. Eldridge of
Medford; Jessie's former hus
band. Bill Barnum, and Leon
Hanna, brother of former Cir
cuit Judge H. K. Hanna of Jack
sonville, used to serenade her
and her friends. The Barnums,
who owned and operated the
Rogue River Valley railroad,
had a "Brisco" car, which was
the pride of Father W. S. Bar
num. His son and daughter-in-law
used it as conveyance for
their serenading tours with ac
cordion and saxophone.
For (she can't remember how
many) years Edna sang in the
Presbyterian church choir,
which she also directed. Her
mezzo soprano voice is remem
bered by many persons who
were in the congregation when
she, standing on the balcony, led
the singing of "God Bless Amer-1
lea" during World War II. I
As grand warder of the Order !
of Eastern Star, she attended '
the Grand Chapter meeting in
Portland in 1926 and sang "Open
the Gates of the Temple." She is
past worthy matron of Reames
chapter in Medford.
A reference to the Eifert fam
ily recently appeared in the
Mail Tribune "Flight of Time"
column. Dated Sept. 5. 1913, it
read: "Funeral services for
Mayor W. W. Eifert, largest in
city's history." .
Local Post Office Commended for Job
The Medford post office has
been commended for its efforts
in promoting the sale of U.S.
Savings stamps, according to
a letter to Acting Postmaster
Al Bradford from William H.
Neal, national director of the
U.S. Savings bonds division.
Neal also announced that
children buying their first sav
ings stamps of the school year
will be given a free certificate
signed by the seven mercury
astronauts which will designate
the recipients as "junior astronauts."
These certificates are now
available at the Medford post
office and at the public schools.
Savings stamps in 10 cent, 25
cent, 50 cent, $1 and $5 sizes
are on sale at the post office at
all times and at the schools
during stamp day.
Sheriff's Deputies
Return Man on Charge
Sheriff's deputies returned
Walton Charles Tillman, 46,
from Winnemucca, Nev., Thurs
day on charges of uttering and
publishing a forged check.
He has signed a statement
admitting to issuing a falsa
check for S155 to an area
market.
Try and Stop Me
By BENNETT CERF-
"hunter." "Now you
A PROFESSIONAL GUIDE on an African safari exulted
to a nervous hunter. "At last! Here are fresh lion
tracks!" "That's great," quavered the
just see where they're
going to and I'll find out
where they came from.
"I note," rasped the old
Judge, "that in addition to
stealing- this lady's money,
you aJso helped yourself to
all of her jewelry."
"It's my mother's fault,"
sobbed the prisoner. "She
always reminded me that
money alone does not bring
happiness."
Joe E. Lewis, who likes
to bet on long-shots at the
race tracks, nicked a par
ticular lemon one sultry afternoon. "I won't say that nag ran
slowly," reported Joe later, "but this Is the first time I ever saw
a jockey take along copies of The Reader's Digest and Cos
mopolitan!"
The French philosopher Voltaire was told that a certain pro
fessor had an answer for everything. "Heavens!" he exclaimed.
"Is he as ignorant as all that?"
C 1963, by Bennett Cert. Distributed by Sing Features Syndicate
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The
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BIG DAYS OF
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k Rummage Sale
ic Food Sale
it Bazaar
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THE MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE
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