Elwood Brown owes his livelihood to Uncle Sam. What he learned in the U.S. Army's Signal School turned into his life's work.
He was a pole man. Rain, sleet, snow or searing heat, often in the dead of night, he responded to calls as a cable splicer and troubleshooter for the C&P Telephone Co. No telling how many poles he climbed or trips he made to the top in his trusty bucket truck. He stayed too busy to keep track. Starting in 1952, he chalked up 32 years and two months before taking early retirement.
Plaques commemorate his exemplary service with the phone company and his extensive volunteer work, principally with the Telephone Pioneers (he's in the group's Hall of Fame) and 40 years with the Midwestern Little League as president, manager and coach.
At 86, looking back over all of it, nothing he achieved means more to him than the time he saved a friend's life. The phone company awarded him the Vice President's Official Citation, the award he cherishes most.
"I was an only child. We lived at Little Springdale, opposite Meadow Bridge, on a farm. My grandfather lived on the next farm over.
"My dad was a miner. He said he never wanted to see me in the mines. He said, 'Look at me. I look like an old man, and I'm still young.' It wears your body down.
"He died on his 63rd birthday and didn't get black lung benefits until three days after he died. He'd worked on it for two years.
"I did work in the strip mines in high school in the summers. My week's pay was $55.60 after taking out Social Security and union dues and all that.
"I graduated from Meadow Bridge High School in 1948. In July, when I turned 18, I went in the Army. I went through basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, then they sent me to Signal School, telephone school. I spent three years on Staten Island, New York
"Before I came home, I wrote the telephone company in Beckley and Charleston and sent them my resume. Beckley asked me to come in for an interview. Charleston wasn't hiring but they said to keep in contact. I got out the 10th of July and Beckley hired me right then because of the experience I had in communications.
"They had the GI Bill so you could go to college. I went to Beckley College for one year at night. I took every subject I could get. Then I transferred to what was then Morris Harvey College, now the University of Charleston.
"The company transferred me to Charleston. I went one more year. Then my oldest son was born, and that was the end of my education. It was just too much. I was working on a degree in accounting.
"Early on, I was a frame man in the central office, hooking up lines. I did that for about six years. Then I was a building mechanic for three years. They put me on the line crew for three years.
"My former supervisor called me in the office and said he wanted to put me in splicing but was afraid I couldn't hear the tones. I have defective ears.
"I got in the Army, and they didn't even check my ears. My mom said she was sure they wouldn't take me. When I didn't come home, she cried like a baby because she knew I was gone.
"I told the supervisor I could hear the tones. When I was in framing, they would call me from out in the field, and I didn't miss a beat. So they made me a splicer, and I worked in splicing for about 20 years. After a couple of years, I was a troubleshooter.
"I had a bucket truck for 10 years and had 150,000 miles on it. In the cold, we would have a heater in the bucket truck.
"One time, we had a bad storm out at Davis Creek, rain and sleet. This guy hit three telephone poles and knocked them down. This was at Christmastime. Christmas Day, here I am splicing wire to get people back in service. I was out there two days.
"When you get into cable and you are a troubleshooter, you make that commitment. They asked me if I would mind getting called out at 2 in the morning. I told them whenever they needed me, I would be ready.
"People were always so glad to see you. They would come out and talk to me. It made you feel good.
"The guys would say, 'How come you work so many trouble calls? Are you trying to show us up? I said, 'No, I have a bucket truck. I can clear two troubles while you're clearing one because you are on a pole.'
"But I climbed many a pole. I've had both hips replaced because of it. I've climbed 50-foot poles over the railroad. It was on-the-job training. Later, they started a school there at 1500 MacCorkle. They had a pole yard out back to teach them how to climb poles.
"I really enjoyed it. I'd get up at 7 o'clock, eat breakfast and be at the storeroom at 15 minutes to 8. I never wanted to be late for anything. Right today, I get up at 7 o'clock.
"Things were a lot better at the phone company back in my day. If you had a case of trouble and I was dispatched, we got it that day, no later than the next day. Nowadays, they hem and haw, 'Oh we can get to you in the next two or three days.'
"I once saved a man's life. It was at Valley Head in Pocahontas County. We were all going deer hunting. Harmon James had converted a school bus into a camper. My father-in-law died that weekend and I couldn't leave. I said I would meet them on Tuesday.
"When I got there, the snow must have been a foot and half deep. I tried to get in the bus and couldn't, so I beat in the door with a tire iron. Harmon stayed in the bus alone that night. He was passed out, gassed by the heater and refrigerator.
"He laid there in the bed, foaming at the mouth. I could smell the gas. I turned everything off and got air in the bus. I went to the Valley Head Fire Department and we took him out of the bus to Elkins Hospital and he was there from Tuesday to Friday without responding. They took him to WVU Hospital. That Saturday, I went to see him and he said, 'Thanks, Elwood.' They told him I had saved his life. That's the biggest highlight I've had in my life.
"I was very active in the Telephone Pioneers. I was president five different times. We did anything and everything, worked with the Ronald McDonald Houses, the Red Cross Bloodmobiles, the Cancer and Heart societies.
"After I retired in '84, I got involved in what we called 'the sawdust gang.' Those were the biggest jobs.
"We put in ramps and decks for handicapped people. The first two jobs I had were for Make-a-Wish. One in Alderson was for a little boy named Joey. He had a brain tumor and wanted a room built on his dad's house that would be all his own.
"It took us two weeks. We drove from here at 7 a.m. and got there at 9, two hours just getting there; worked until 5 and headed back. It tickled that little boy to pieces. He ended up graduating from high school.
"The last biggest job we had was on the road from Elkview to Sissonville. A woman wanted her steps repaired as part of Christmas in April. They asked us to do it. There were 70 some steps straight up a hill. We worked a week on that. She cried when we left.
"I was active in the Midwestern Little League 40 years, from 1961 to 2001. I coached for about 20 years, and I loved it. When they came to us, they could hardly throw a ball, but we made ballplayers out of them.
"Adjutant Gen. Jimmy Hoyer played for me for three years. One guy played pro ball for a lot of years. He was on my all-star team when he was 11. Denny Harrah. And Jeff Ehman went all the way to Triple-A and threw his arm out. I had good athletes.
"We were up at Cracker Barrel one Sunday for lunch with the family. I saw this guy in uniform. I hollered out, 'Jimmy Hoyer!' We both jumped up and hugged each other. He was one of my kids.
"My first wife passed away 18 years ago. We used to travel on the Pioneers bus. And I've been to Australia and New Zealand, Hawaii twice, Canada four times. I've been on two cruises. And I've seen every state in the union but four.
"I was with the phone company 32 years. I've been retired 31 years. I hope I live long enough to say I've been retired longer than I worked.
"I feel real good. I've got a-fib, but it's medicated. I forget names sometimes, but that's about it. I have no regrets about my life. I will never forget saving that man as long as I live."
Reach Sandy Wells at sandyw@wvgazette.com or 304-342-5027.