Long time retired BC Tel chief operator Audrey Cleghorn was born in Edberg, Alberta in 1933. Her father, who was a part time sawmill worker and a full time farmer, moved the family from Alberta to Prince George in 1954. His first job in Prince George was piling lumber for Norman Smith Lumber at the industrial site.
Audrey graduated from high school with plans to continue her education in the field of nursing. She took some good advice and went to work as a nurse's aid to see what the profession was all about. One of the doctors took her aside and kindly told her that she was far too sensitive for the profession. That advice would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
In 1954 Audrey went to work as a telephone operator for the North West Telephone Company which was officially merged into the BC Telephone Company in 1961. Audrey said, "I loved my job in operator services and over the years I moved up to a supervisory position and then to the position of chief operator (CO). Florence Dawson (deceased) was my clerk in the Prince George office. Florence kept my office and all my operators organized and scheduled them for their shifts; not only that - she made sure they got to work on time.
"I worked in the old one story flat roof building on 6th Avenue which is now an eight story and very modern building on the same site. My manager at the time was Barbara Ladner - 'Miss Ladner' to the employees. She was a great boss and she assisted me in a transfer to Alert Bay to fill in as their Chief Operator.
"I worked in the Alert Bay office until the office converted to a cordless board. Miss Ladner was retiring so I successfully applied for her position and moved back to Prince George as Chief Operator.
"I retired from the Kelowna office in 1987 after 33 very successful years with the company. After my retirement my husband and I took off for a year and traveled all across Canada. It was a trip of a lifetime."
During her career Audrey saw the major changes in telephone technology: From no telephone service in Willow River, Giscome and many other areas to open wire telephone service that was quite often out of order; the old party line ring down toll stations to dial phones, from cord boards to cordless boards and to the days when suddenly for some reason everyone now wanted a telephone!
Inside the telephone office Audrey watched and managed her staff of 24 telephone operators as Bob Robertson and his crew updated and automated the telephone system.
Audrey said, "Things got more modern with every day. The Traffic Service Position System (TSPS) replaced traditional cord switchboards but they still needed telephone operators for the remote ring down toll stations, person-to-person and collect calls, third-party-billing, hotel billing and the pay phone calls. Another group in my department handled all the operator assisted overseas calls and calls to mobile and marine radio telephone customers."
I myself also worked for BC Tel during that era and I remember the complicated pay phone calls very well. It was our job back then to figure out exactly how much to charge a pay phone customer for their call according to the destination of the call. The customer would deposit the quoted amount for the first three minutes; we kept track of when the three minutes were nearly up and then we would interrupt the call warning them that their three minutes were nearly up. We would then start preparing to ask for more money to continue the call. We always knew how much money the customer deposited because each coin made a different sound as it dropped into the coin box. There was no fooling a coin phone telephone operator. These days it is almost impossible to find a pay phone booth.
Audrey said, "Over the years I worked in the Kamloops and Kelowna offices. My staff increased from 24 to 50 telephone operators. It was an interesting and exciting era. I met many wonderful people and made lasting friendships; in fact I eventually married a telephone company man!
"I had a very rewarding career, I raised three daughters and I now have seven wonderful grand children and eight great grand children. I live at the Gateway complex and I love it. I have my friends, my family, my computer and I love to play cards. I knit and crochet in my spare time and I am just sitting back and watching the world go by."
