#Telephones December 14

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

In December 2025, many of us will take part in the 30-Day Rewind Coach4aday Challenge. Each day, we’ll rewind, review, reflect or—in my case—re-blog one of my nearly 4,000 posts that highlight experiences shaping us into better versions of ourselves. If you don’t have a blog, your reflections can come from a journal or even a meaningful memory tied to something learned, a goal reached, or a personal effort to improve. These daily habits of looking back will serve as a powerful springboard for taking on a new and ambitious challenge in 2026. Today my rewind is on a story about the TELEPHONES.

I was around conversations about the telephone industry my entire childhood. My dad was a repairman which meant part of his career was spent climbing telephone poles. Over his career he saw many changes in the technology of phones. He predicted at the New York’s World Fair in 1964 to me at age 11 that I would see Dick Tracy like wristwatches be used as phones. He was correct.

Rewind-30 Day Challenge Guidelines

As with previous challenges, participants are encouraged to adapt the guidelines to fit their own circumstances. If you can, commit to sharing a rewind, review, or reflection during the month of December

1. Rewind, review, or reflect on a past effort to improve, a lesson you learned, or a goal you accomplished.
2. Share with a challenge partner if you have one.
3. Join the conversation by posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

December 14-Telephones

On April 14, 2016, I wrote about the State of North Carolina getting its first telephone.

Telephones began to appear in North Carolina beginning in 1879, three years after invention by Alexander Graham Bell. On 10 March of that year, a telephone was installed in the office of B. W. Starnes, manager of Western Union’s Raleigh office. North Carolina was predominantly rural, and consequently much of the state was left without telephone service until after WW II.