Every March, NTCA and its Women in Telecom program celebrate, honor and recognize the contributions, achievements and influence of the women—past and present—in the rural broadband industry. This year, we wanted to do something a little different and requested that members share the stories of women who have made a significant impact on their company, community, or the industry as a whole.
We expected to get a handful of submissions. Not because there aren’t many women worthy of recognition in our industry, because there certainly are, but because we asked during the holiday season, one of the busiest times of the year.
But we could not have been more wrong. We received roughly three dozen submissions. Some were a few paragraphs and others were multiple pages. Some included photos, which we will share on the NTCA Facebook page. Each submission was unique, and each was clearly a labor of love, which created a new conundrum; how were we to choose which women to feature? Each has made a difference and uplifted others around them in their own ways. Shouldn’t we afford them the same treatment?
Therefore, I am going to try to do my best to briefly recognize each of these women over the next few weeks. And we will continue tell their stories throughout the year through the Women in Telecom program.
This week, we will focus on the “giants” whose shoulders we stand upon. The women who, in many cases, may no longer be with us, but without whom we would not be here today.
A great place to start is with Jeannette Breslin. She and her husband Mike purchased Albion Telephone Company (now ATC Communications; Albion, Idaho) in 1929. Known as the “voice with a smile,” Jeannette Breslin worked the switchboard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, often sleeping beside it to ensure continuous service. But that’s not all. She somehow also found the time to provide medical care to neighbors in need, serving as the town nurse. Her exceptional work ethic and dedication to her community laid the foundation for the values that continue to guide ATC today.
Jumping forward a few years, we have Mildred Foster, the matriarch of Twin Valley Telephone (Miltonvale, Kan.). During World War II, Mildred Foster worked at the Sunflower Ordnance Plant, which brought her a sense of independence, but she wanted to do more than just earn a living, she wanted to help build a better life for her family and support her community. In 1947, she encouraged her husband Joe Foster to pursue ownership of the Miltonvale Telephone Company, helped secure financing for the acquisition, and then managed the office, handled billing, recordkeeping, service orders and customer payments – all by hand. Over her 22-year tenure, she helped transform the company from a party line system into a modern telecommunications provider, and she was inducted as a charter member of the Kansas Telecommunications Hall of Fame in 1995 for her work. Four generations later, Mildred Foster’s values of hard work, community service and family unity remain at the heart of Twin Valley.
De Lamb and her husband Bill Lamb purchased Dubois Telephone Exchange (DTE) in 1958, when it only had 140 subscribers. In the first years of operation, the Lambs and their family lived in the same building as the old switch because they did not have extra money to pay rent to live elsewhere. Two years later, they began modernizing the telephone system, replacing the old manual switchboard with an automatic electric “step-by-step” mechanical switch, and moving to one-party lines. By 1983, DTE was 100% digital. Thirty-three years after they purchased the company, the Lambs sold DTE to Range Telephone Cooperative (Range; Forsyth, Mont.). De Lamb leaves behind a legacy of pursuing excellence in customer service and technological advancement that is still felt today.
One doesn’t have to be a company owner to make an impact, as demonstrated by Virginia Jones. She started her career at Surry Telephone Membership Corporation (Surry Communications; Dobson, N.C.) in 1959, breaking barriers as the company’s first female manager. Her career at Surry spanned 32 years, and she was known for setting a high standard for service and leadership. She was resilient as well. After just 10 months of marriage, her husband, Glen Franklin Jones, was killed during World War II, and two months later, her son, Glen Jr., was born. Living to 98 years old and never remarrying, she raised her son on her own; her story was featured in a book by Tom Brokaw, “The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections.”
Another woman who has had an immeasurable impact both at her company and in her community is Betty Smith. Smith started as a bookkeeper at Canadian Valley Telephone (CVT; Crowder, Okla.) in 1964 and later transitioned to office manager, a position she held until 2015. She has served as the secretary/treasurer for the CVT Board of Directors since 1968 and, at 84 years old, continues to be an integral part of the company, serving as an office consultant. In recognition of her service, Smith was inducted into the Oklahoma Telephone Association Hall of Fame in 2020. However, her impact on her community goes far beyond her tenure at CVT. She is a pillar of her community, supporting more causes than I have room to mention. Here are a few: funding playgrounds in Canadian and Crowder, Okla., funding college scholarships for students, donating critical resources to local schools and first responders, and much more. Her dedication and generous heart have left an indelible mark on countless lives.
Many of the women on this list have seen the radical transformation of the industry over decades. That includes Patsy Bigbee, who recently retired after 49 years at Taylor Telephone (now Taylor Telecom; Merkel, Texas). Bigbee was the first employee hired by Taylor’s second manager, Darrell Farmer, in 1974 and the first woman hired in seven years. She started in the customer service department and eventually transitioned to a plant records supervisor. Bigbee describes this role as her true calling, saying that “the moment I stepped into that role, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.” She also credits the women who came before her with helping shape the person she is today, both in work and in life.
Next, we have Bonnie Krause, who called West River Telecommunications Cooperative (WRT; Hazen, N.D.) “home” from 1978 to 2016. While she is small in stature, she is still a “giant” in her influence, dedication and impact on the industry. Krause started part-time in the WRT accounting department and worked her way up to becoming WRT’s CEO/general manager in 2012. She was the sixth manager and first and only female leader in the cooperative’s 73 years. During her tenure, the cooperative doubled in size and built an all-fiber network for the 25 local exchanges it serves in North and South Dakota. Now retired, she continues to be a driving force in her community and has earned numerous awards, including the Hazen Outstanding Citizen Award, N.D. Dollars for Scholars Chapter Hero and the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce Award.
Throughout her life, Flossie Swanson held numerous jobs in construction and security and as a health aid before finally finding a role as a telecom technician at Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative (ASTAC; Anchorage, Alaska), where she worked until her retirement in 2016. As a technician, Swanson played a critical role in connecting Alaska communities and driving innovation, making sure networks ran smoothly, helping keep businesses operational, enabling remote education and health care and ensuring individuals stay connected with loved ones. She was a proud member of the Lampe Whaling Crew in Kaktovik, an avid hunter, fisher and trapper, loved to travel and made friends wherever she went. While she passed in 2021, Swanson’s legacy lives on with the Flossie Swanson ASTAC Scholarship.
Another woman who was instrumental in shaping ASTAC is Ella Kowunna. She was ASTAC’s Point Hope Board Member, serving for 27 years, and was the longest tenured director in ASTAC’s history. Kowunna and her board leadership were pivotal in empowering both the cooperative and the people she served. She cared deeply about fostering the next generation of leaders, and, while she is no longer with us, her legacy of hard work and dedication to the ASTAC community is memorialized in the Ella Kowunna ASTAC Scholarship.
When she joined Dakota Carrier Networks (DCN; Fargo, N.D.) as office manager in 1998, Nancy Bjorndahl was the second employee at the company. Throughout her almost 26 years at DCN, she wore many hats, everything from HR manager to technical assistant, public relations specialist, supply manager, and finally, business manager. Bjorndahl played an instrumental role in growing DCN and cultivating the company’s culture and values: reliable, responsible and relationships.
Elizabeth “Luanne” Silkwood, the granddaughter of Ponderosa (O’Neal’s, Calif.) founder Harmon Bigelow, took over leadership of the company in 1983 and, in 1985, was named the first female president of the California Telephone Association. She has won numerous awards, including state and national Honorary Future Farmer of America degrees for her contributions to agricultural education and the Marjaree Mason Top Ten Business Professional Women of the Year Award for her professional and community leadership. Luanne Silkwood retired as Ponderosa Board President in 2014 and was succeeded by her daughter Kristann “Kristi” Silkwood Mattes. From a young age, Kristi Silkwood Mattes aspired to follow in her mother’s footsteps and be a strong leader in both the family business and her community. In addition to her leadership at Ponderosa, she has dedicated 47 years to teaching and is deeply connected to the O’Neals community, where she serves as the chair of the Minarets High School Agricultural Department. Like Luanne Silkwood, she has also received awards for her dedication to the community, including the American Farmer Degree, Honorary FFA Degree and FFA Star State Advisor award.
For over a century, the women of the Fail family have been providing communications services to their community. Estelle Fail and her husband Donnie Fail purchased their hometown telephone company in 1923 with the vision to “make it easier to connect.” The Fails operated the company, which had 120 customers, from a spare bedroom in their home. Decades later, Estelle’s granddaughter, Donna Fail Alexander, carried that legacy forward, helping evolve the business into a multi-state telecommunications company. In 1992, she and her father, Charlie Fail, co-founded Fail Telecommunications Corp. (now Arriva; Bay Springs, Miss.), with Donna Fail serving as chief financial officer. She was the backbone of the company, establishing the financial and operational foundation that fueled its growth, and she managed to do so while raising her young children and supporting her mother through illness. And 102 years later, the company is still family-run and female-owned, with Donna Fail’s daughters, Christa Alexander and Ali Alexander Phillips, at the helm. As Ali Alexander Phillips describes the family legacy, “Four generations, one powerful HERstory – connecting communities, one fiber line at a time.”
As we see with Ponderosa and Arriva, these women, and so many more, have led the way, but this legacy of strong female leadership does not just live in the past. It continues each and every day. Stay tuned for next week’s blog, which will feature some of today's leading women.