Telephone Hall of Fame
The Telephone Hall of Fame was founded in 1965 by a group of Pioneers who envisioned a special recognition of individuals in the industry who contribute not only to their company, but to the industry at large; a forum through which excellence is rewarded by colleagues, employers and the leaders in telecommunications. The establishment of the Hall of Fame accomplished those goals. The Hall of Fame Honors Committee now exists, and is more vibrant than ever. By meeting the criteria set forth by the Committee, individuals are considered for the Hall of Fame.
The accomplishments of those inducted into the Telephone Hall of Fame represent an unmatched insight into the development and growth of telephony. The telecommunications industry has made a significant contribution to the nation's private and public sectors and the lifestyle of its people, especially in the rural areas. These successes also serve as a standard to which present and future generations can aspire.
Nominations for the Hall of Fame include individuals who have made positive and substantial contributions to the development, growth, and public perception of the telephone industry, on a national scale, over a period of many years. To be eligible, an individual must have reached age 70, be retired from the industry for at least three years, or be deceased.
2023 Hall of Fame Inductee Hannah Lancaster
Hannah Askins Lancaster was inducted into the Telephone Hall of Fame on April 23rd during the 31st Annual National Assembly in Hinesville, GA. Mrs. Lancaster was born into the telecommunications industry, her parents having purchased a small telephone company in Chesnee, SC in 1932. They ran the company from their home. Hannah grew up playing behind the operator’s switchboard. She recalls sitting on the operator's lap and connecting calls on the switchboard, serving as the company’s unofficial junior operator.
Mrs. Lancaster graduated from Chesnee High School and attended Lander College and Limestone College in the mid-1950s. In 1957, after marrying Curtis B. Lancaster, she began her long and illustrious career at Chesnee Telephone. Mrs. Lancaster became President of Chesnee Telephone Company in 1992, and under her leadership the company continued to thrive. The company’s outside plant was improved and new technologies were implemented. Fiber optic lines and remote switches were installed in rural areas to protect Chesnee from isolation due to accidental cable cuts. In the 1990s, additional services such as cable TV and wireless and internet services were added to the company’s portfolio, along with more technology upgrades.
During the decades that followed, many technology upgrades and new services were offered to a growing customer base under Mrs. Lancaster’s leadership, and she remained vitally involved in the day-to-day activities of the company until her retirement. Despite their hectic work schedules during that era, Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster attended many ITPA chapter meetings, state and national assemblies to support the work and mission of ITPA.
A member of the National ITPA since 1975, Mrs. Lancaster has served on numerous ITPA committees, and she also served as Vice-President, Regional Vice-President, and President of the ITPA. She is still an active Pioneer and has an affiliation with two state ITPA chapters – Comporium (SC) and Tar Heel (NC). Mrs. Lancaster’s additional memberships have included the United States Telecom Association (USTA), the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 48 in Chesnee, SC and the South Carolina Telecommunications and Broadband Association (SCTBA). She was inducted into the SCTBA Hall of Fame in 2016.
Mrs. Lancaster has long been a dedicated community servant. She often found a way to serve the telephone company she loved, the church she was devoted to and her community she was dedicated to. She found ways to intertwine those for the best outcome for all. For example, when Chesnee Telephone Company hosted meetings that were too large for the company’s conference room, she would hold meetings in her church’s larger conference area and would compensate the church for the use of the facilities. She likely could have brokered a deal to have used the church facilities at no charge, but she was intentional in helping both her church and her company.
On one occasion, after the company’s camera man, Andrew Kincannon, filmed a community softball event, he showed Mr. Lancaster the video. The teams were playing a double header on an old field with no lights. As the sky darkened, a batter hit a line drive straight to third base. The third base player couldn’t see the ball and had to duck rather than attempt what would have been an easy catch during daylight After watching the video, Mr. Lancaster guided Andrew to Mrs. Lancaster and they replayed the video. No words were spoken afterwards. She simply nodded to Mr. Curt, and he called the company’s pole supplier on speakerphone. When the supplier asked for a project number, Mrs. Lancaster then spoke and said, “It’s my project number.” The supplier’s next question was, “How soon do you need this order?” In two weeks, that ball field was lighted. At the time, few people knew the extent of Mrs. Lancaster’s contribution to that project.
Andrew said of Mrs. Lancaster, “Mrs. Hannah is not one for glory. All she’s about is getting it done, and getting it done right to the best of her abilities. Mrs. Hannah is nothing but love. At the same time, she’s not a marshmallow. She didn’t tolerate sub-standard performance, and employees who performed poorly were invited to seek other employment. She was also a visionary. Under her leadership, Chesnee was offering cable TV way before cable TV was the going thing. She was the first rural cable provider to air a “local events” channel. Sometimes called ‘Grandma TV,’ the channel aired local middle and high school games, art shows, city council and school board meetings, and many other community related events. When she sold Chesnee and retired, that local channel was the third most watched channel behind ESPN and CNN.”
Andrew also shared about how ‘Mrs. Hannah’ saved the Chesnee post office. “The U.S. Postal Service was at one point closing some small post offices when mail volume dropped below a certain level. At the time, Chesnee’s bills were printed in Rock Hill, SC. To keep Chesnee’s post office alive and well, Mrs. Hannah would have their bills picked up from the printer, or the printer would sometimes deliver them to her, and she would have the bills mailed through Chesnee’s post office where they rightfully should have originated from anyway. To this day, Mrs. Hannah has a box at the Chesnee post office.”
Mrs. Lancaster retired in 2017 with 60 years of dedicated service to the company and to her community. Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster were happily married for 65 years before his death in 2022. Their three children, along with their grandchildren, are among their greatest accomplishments.
2023 Hall of Fame Inductee Janice Eloise Adams O’Brien
Janice Eloise Adams O’Brien was posthumously inducted to the Telephone Hall of Fame on April 23, 2023 during the ITPA’s 31st Annual National Assembly in Hinesville, GA. Jim O’Brian, owner and CEO of Glenwood Telephone Company, attended the Telephone Hall of Fame luncheon and accepted the honor on his mother’s behalf. A native of Glenwood, GA, Janice Eloise Adams was born in 1945, and she literally grew up in the telephone company. Her parents, L.B. and Eloise, ran the switchboard for Glenwood Telephone Company from the front room of their home.
As a young child, Mrs. O’Brien was exposed daily to the workings of the plug board, the operator’s role, maintenance, and what was happening in the local area. These experiences helped prepare her for the much larger roles she would later hold in the company, after she completed her education at the University of Georgia.
Mrs. O’Brien became the owner and CEO of Glenwood Telephone Company at the age of 37. The company's office, having been previously relocated from the home, was moved back to the Adams home in 1989 under Mrs. O’Brien’s leadership. She had 13 miles of fiber optic cable added in 1989 under a capital improvement initiative, and in 1990 the company ushered in the era of digital switching by replacing its XY switch with a Siemens DCO. In 1994, Mrs. O’Brien accepted the role of President of the Georgia Telecommunications Association. Among Mrs. O’Brien’s most notable accomplishments was that she helped author and the 1995 Telecommunications and Development Act passed in Georgia.
Meanwhile, Glenwood Telephone Company prospered and improved under Mrs. O’Brien’s leadership and technological upgrades continued into the next century. In 1996, toll-free calling was implemented by the company to Mount Vernon and Vidalia, Ga. In 1998, the company opened a new business office and in 2000 an internet service provider division of the company was established.
Mrs. O’Brien was a visionary who understood the importance of the internet to the future of communications. In 2004, her company received a grant through the USDA/RUS Community Connectivity Broadband Grant program which jump-started the availability of DSL services in the company’s serving area. The EWSD was replaced with Metaswitch in 2010 to further facilitate technological improvements. In 2019, Mrs. O’Brien began the engineering and design work necessary for Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services and the company broke ground for that enhancement in 2020.
Complementing her accomplishments in the telecom industry, Mrs. O’Brien was on the Wheeler County Chamber of Commerce board and was a dedicated advocate for economic development in Wheeler County and Region 9 of Georgia. Mrs. O’Brien was nominated by former Speaker of the House, Glen Richardson, to the Heart of Georgia Regional Commission and she served as a Trustee of Brewton Parker College. Mrs. O’Brien was genuinely interested in supporting the area’s residents and she always looked for opportunities to improve the economic conditions in what was one of the poorest areas in Georgia.
Upon Mrs. O’Brien’s death in 2021, Glenwood Telephone Company’s ownership was passed to her son, Jim O’Brien. Under his capable leadership, the company has continued to thrive and provide excellent telecommunications and internet service to its customers. Glenwood Telephone Company, now a third generation-owned and operated company, is the smallest independent local exchange carrier in Georgia.
Jim O’Brien reflected on his mother’s leadership of the company and of her role in the community. “Mom was a force to be reckoned with. She was a micro-manager, insisting on involvement at every level of the company. Her leadership style was perfect for our little telephone company, and it prospered during her tenure. Mom was deeply dedicated to her family, to Glenwood Telephone Company and to our community. She could often be found sitting at the drive through window where she greeted and chatted with customers who were also friends. Truth be told, mom loved to participate in the small-town gossip, and her time spent at that drive through window with customers gave her plenty of opportunities to get caught up on the latest. But more than that, mom loved bringing the community together. She enjoyed hosting parties and she often hosted chamber of commerce events and other community gatherings.”
“Mom dearly loved the telephone industry, and she loved what she often referred to as ‘the best little telephone company in Georgia.’ Mom believed her father questioned her ability to run the business independently, and when her opportunity came to do so, she was more than ready to prove herself. And did she ever. Mom was still involved in the day-to-day operations of the business until COVID-19 restrictions were enacted. By then, she had begun having some health challenges and she reluctantly worked from home more often, and perhaps just as reluctantly she began passing some leadership opportunities to me. Glenwood Telephone Company is, and always has been, an Adams family business. I’m appreciative of the faith my mom demonstrated in me, and I’m proud to be a steward of her family’s legacy.”
Telephone Hall of Fame Honor Roll
Below is a list of the members of the Telephone Hall of Fame, followed by the year of their induction.
- Adams, Arthur F, 1965
- Agee, John H, 1966
- Alden, Raymond M, 1994
- Atherton, J.Ballard, 1969
- Bailey, Carl F, 1998
- Bailey, Clyde S, 1972
- Balch, John A, 1976
- Barnes, Edwin L., 2016
- Barnes, Frank S,Sr, 1980
- Barnes, Frank S,Jr, 1996
- Barnes, John M, 1999
- Barnhart, Henry A, 1969
- Barnhart, Hugh A, 1982
- Bell, Alexander G, 1999
- Berry, Loren M, 1982
- Blain, Ray, 1981
- Blakeslee, Edwin M, 1965
- Blomeyer, Edward C, 1965
- Bohn, Frank F, 1966
- Boylan, John P, 1965
- Bozell, Harold V, 1970
- Brorein, Carl D, Sr, 1976
- Brorein, William G, 1968
- Brown, Clyson I, 1967
- Bryant, Glenn E, 2015
- Bunke, Robert W, 1995
- Burfiend Raymond H, 1967
- Cadwell, Charles S, 1970
- Carlson, LeRoy T, 2014
- Case, Weldon W, 1991
- Clerkin, James J, Jr, 1988
- Cook, John Brown, 1981
- Cook, Wallace I, 1969
- Corman, William F, 1989
- Densmore, Leonard D, 1983
- Fargo, Harm D, 1974
- Ferguson, Peter M, 1969
- Fisher, Burgie L, 1966
- French, Warren B, Jr, 1993
- Galloway, Josey K, 1984
- Garnett, Wilson B, 1995
- Gary, Theodore, 1965
- Geist, James E, 1996
- Guild, Douglas S, 1984
- Hageman, Herman E, 1965
- Harris Joseph, 1967
- Hart, Adlen L, 1969
- Haskin, Eleanor G., 2020
- Henry, William C, 1973
- Henson, Paul H, 1992
- Hill, Luther W, 1970
- Hirsch, Gustav, 1965
- Hirt, Donald, 2001
- Holderness, H. Dail, 1985
- Johnston, John K, 1967
- Keen, Jack C, 2000
- Kellogg, Milo G, 1965
- Loomis, Wesley H, III, 1981
- Loveland, Chester H, 1976
- Lucier, Phillip J, 1994
- Lucier, Ralph F, 1972
- Lumpkin, Richard A, 1990
- MacKinnon, F.S., 1965
- McHenry, Houck, 1965
- Mahoney, Harry P, 1967
- Martin, Talbot, G, 1976
- Mason, Charles F, 1966
- McCartney, James E., 2019
- McClelland Robert S, 1997
- McBerty Frank R, 1965
- McGraw, Max, 1968
- Nehring, Roland, 2001
- North, Charles H, 1969
- O'Connell, John F, 1993
- Odegard, Sigurd L, 1993
- Ostline, John E, 1977
- Payne, Harold G, 1987
- Peterson, D. Wayne, 2021
- Pirnie, Robert M, Jr, 1991
- Porter, John R, 1967
- Power, Donald C, 1975
- Quatman, George B, 1977
- Reese, Frank D, 1997
- Reno, Ralph C, 1971
- Reynolds, John G, 1980
- Scupin, Carl A, 1973
- Smith, Ray H, 2013
- Stewart, H Milton, Sr, 1983
- Stocker, C. Paul, 1985
- Stoffels, Robert E, 2016
- Stromberg, Alfred, 1965
- Strowger, Almon B, 1965
- Sullivan, R Parker, 1983
- Swanson, Dean Charles 2018
- Thomas, James M, 1966
- Warner, Leslie H, 1980
- Welch, Francis X, 1981
- Wettstein, Otto, Jr, 1977
- Wilburn, High R, Jr, 1986
- Williams, Clarke McRae, 2014
- Woods, Frank H, 1965
- Workman, Mayme, 1965
- Wright, John H, 1965