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By THERESA REYNOLDS
Rappahannock Staff Writer
For thirteen years, from January, 1936 until dial phones were installed in 1949, Mrs. Alfred Miller Verner and her daughters Phyllis and Mary operated a switchboard from their home in Washington, providing 24hour
service for^^hdents of Washington, Sperryville and Flint Hill and connecting to Front Royal and Culpeper. “In fact,” Phyllis Verner said, “we could call anywhere in the world through the phone office in Front Royal.”
Callers would crank their old-fashioned phones, causing a light to blink on the Verner switchboard. One of the operators would connect them. “No-one bothered with their number, although they all had one,” Phyllis said. “They’d just ask for people by name and we’d connect them.”
The Verners supplied other services to area phone users. If someone wasn’t at home, then the women tracked the missing person down. Phyllis Verner was known as a special friend to young romance. “One boy had a crush on a girl, but was too shy to ask her out,” Phyllis said. “He asked me if I would ring her up and ask her if she’d gp out with him. So I did, and she did, and they got married eventually.”
Phyllis remembered another boy who waited until the very last minute to get dates for social events. "This was Jack DeBergh,” Phyllis said. “He used to stay on the phone while I dialed every girl from A to Z.”
The Verners usually knew
86.3%