Another photo clipping from those of my grandmother, Gladys Maxine Donaldson Ross. This one is more apparent to me why it was clipped. Minnie Wallace is Glady’s first cousin. Minnie’s mother is Johanna Hermina Van Leeuwen Edsinga (1884-1958), sister to my Grandmother’s mother, Berendena Van Leeuwen Donaldson (1898-1959). Johanna Hermina also went by Minnie.

“The voice of Mrs. Minnie Wallace will be missing from the Ogden Standard-Examiner after the veteran PBX operator retires Wednesday. The date at the top shows 8 March 1976.

“One of the best known voices in Ogden retires next Wednesday.

“Mrs. Minnie Wallace is hanging up her headphones after almost 29 years as the switchboard operator for the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

“She becamse the “telephone girl” for the newspaper in September 1947 after she and her late husband returned to their native Ogden from Sacramento, Calif.

“While in Sacramento, Mrs. Wallace had worked as a bench chemist in a sugar factory.

“Before her marriage she had worked as an operator for the telephone company in Ogden and still was intrigued by the work.

“So when she heard of the opening for a PBX operator at the newspaper, she applied for and got the job.

DIM LOVE

“”And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Mrs. Wallace said with her almost perpetual infectious grin as she looked back over those 29 years.

“She hasn’t let the frustrating aspects of the switchboard operator dim her love for people.

“And it can become somewhat frustrating when an irate reader wants to pour a complaint into her ears or an impatient reporter can’t understand why his long distance call isn’t completed immediately.

“It can also be humorous when a caller wants to talk to a reporter he’s seen at a meeting but can’t remember his name and tries to describe him. Sometimes Mrs. Wallace passes the description on to the report – and sometimes she doesn’t.

“And there are times when her ingenuity in completing a seemingly impossible long distance calls brings a rewarding glow of satisfaction and a compliment from an amazed reporter.

“Like the time two buffalo showed up in the local railroads en route from Great Falls, Mont., to the West Coast.

NAME OF RANCH

“The name of the ranch that shipped the buffalo was on the bill of lading but not the address and there were indications it might be some distance from Great Falls.

“A confident reporter asked her to find the ranch and get the foreman on the phone. Twenty minutes later, she had located the ranch in North Dakota and had the reporter connected with the foreman.

“This is not an unusual example of the resourcefulness of a switchboard operator who has won the admiration and affection of countless Standard-Examiner employes and readers.

“An outstanding mother herself, Mrs. Wallace has shown a genuine interest in the children of numerous newspaper employes – keeping up an acquaintance with many even after they are grown and their parents gone elsewhere.

WON RESPECT

“The respect of her fellow PBX operators is just as great as that of her fellow Standard-Examiner employes.

“Mrs. Wallace has served as president of the Ogden PBX Club and represented it at meetings in Mexico and Canada. She has been an active member of the Atoka chapter of the American Business Women.

“After hanging up her headphones, Mrs. Wallace plans to do a bit of travelling, play some golf and tend her grandchildren from time to time.

“She has five grandchildren.

“She has a son, Robert Wallace of Bountiful, and daughter Mrs. Harold (Gloria) Hegstrom of South Ogden.