William C. Henry was a director of the United States Independent Telephone Association(USITA), 1936-1968; a member of the executive committee, 1941-1965; second vice president, 1944; and president, 1945-1946. He served as president of the Ohio Independent Telephone Association (OITA), 1934-1935, where he was a director for 34 years.
Henry began his telephone career in 1925, as a telephone directory salesman for the Northern Ohio Telephone Company, Bellevue, Ohio; secretary-treasurer, 1927; general manager, 1928; president and general manager, 1946-1968; and chairman of the board of Northern Ohio Telephone Company of Ohio and General Telephone Company of Ohio in 1968, following a merger with General Telephone Company of Ohio. At that time, the Northern Ohio Company was the eighth largest Independent Telephone Company in the U.S., serving over 168,000 telephones and providing service to 183 communities.
During his 44 years of service to the Independent telephone industry, he performed many services for the USITA and OITA and his efforts were especially productive during his years as a member of the USITA Settlements Committee and its predecessor, the Committee on Bell Special Service; the Problems of Small Companies Committee; and the Military Liaison Committee and its predecessor, the National Defense Committee. In November 1963, Henry was honored by USITA for 27 years of “outstanding service to the communications industry”. Through his dedicated, long-time service, he provided “tremendous betterments and enhanced the image of Independent Telephony in the United States…”
He died in 1969.
