"...and the switchboard suddenly lit up."

Mom was working for Ma Bell when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor…

Harriet  had gone down from home to stay with her big sister Alberta, fondly known as ‘Pat’ (a nickname given her years ago as a shortened monicker for her maiden name, Fitzpatrick…)  She wanted to find a job and get a taste of independence now that she was a high school graduate, so she joined Pat and Pat’s husband John, who had recently moved to Bemidji.  There was word that Northwestern Bell Telephone Company was hiring switchboard operators there.  It wasn’t long before Harriet was learning the ropes of literally connecting calls, how to switch calls without losing them, etc.  It was tricky, but fun once you got the hang of it.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, she was working at her switchboard in downtown Bemidji, when the board lit up.  She knew something serious must have happened, but she - along with the rest of the country and world - was about to learn of an unpredictable, horrific truth:  The surprise bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, the resulting destruction of the U.S. Navy’s 7th fleet, and over 3580 casualties. She told me years later it was a flood of calls that came in, in a short period of time - she was almost on automatic as she used every trick in her newly trained noodle to keep up. That morning was imprinted on her memory, something she never forgot.

Dad & Technology

My Dad never went past the 8th grade.  Back in his day, especially if you were a farm boy, that was common.  You were needed on your parents' farm, you accepted it, it was the way it was.

Thus, Dad never learned things like typing in a business class.

After the war, he came home to a small homestead that sustained the family with pasture and livestock, as well as a large garden.  Soon he realized he'd have to return to education to make a better life.  Despite not having a high school diploma, he was still able to take advantage of the new G.I. Bill, and went away to a school called the Gale Institute in Minneapolis, MN.  He had to be away for the better part of nine months from Mom, but he stuck it out.  He wrote letters home, and looked ahead to making a better life for his young family.

His course was focused on teaching him skills he would need to be a telegrapher for the railroad.  I don't what the entire curriculum consisted of outside of telegraphy itself, but evidently typing was not included.  To the day he retired, he always typed using what he called the 'hunt and peck' method.

Ad in July 1949 Popular Mechanics for training at the Gale Institute in Minneapolis, Minn.,
for railroad jobs. It was one like this that my Dad and his brother Robert saw that eventually 
got them to attend Gale Institute in early 1951.  Both of them ended up getting good jobs 
with the Great Northern Railway (which became the Burlington Northern) for their entire 
careers - Dad in Minnesota, and Uncle Robert in Montana...

I learned that term from him one day when my mother took me to visit him at his office, in the depot at Noyes, MN.  I still remember well the first time I visited the depot.  I was just a little girl, only about 7 or 8 at most.  To me, it was a thrilling experience to see where my father worked.  Passengers were still part of the business then, and we entered via the waiting room with its beautiful long, wood benches.  There was a water machine, with its big glass container sitting on top.  I went to check it out, and found of all things, paper cups!  I had to try it.  As I put the cup under the spigot and pressed the button, I almost jumped as the machine made a huge "glug, glug, glug" sound and large bubbles drifted up inside the upside down glass bottle.  I tried it again with the same result.  I laughed and thought, what a fun way to get water to drink!

I then noticed the counters and men behind them sitting at desks or walked through with papers, my ears picking up an interesting staccato clicking, of varying speeds.  My Mom went to the counter and Dad came to greet her.  He saw me and I looked up at him and he smiled.  "Would you like to come inside and see where I work?"  I replied, "Yes!"