The Telephone Story

The first 9 years of my life were spent at 237 North Broadway, Lebanon, Ohio.  It was a sweet little house that still stands on the main drag of Lebanon.  One of my early memories is of a telephone lamp that was always a part of our home furnishings, from day one. 

I don’t know the back story on the lamp, but I assume it was maybe the first telephone my parents had and as time moved on, Dad, always the handyman, converted it into a lamp.

The lamp moved with us from Ohio to Pinellas Park, Florida in 1957.  It was always there.  Something I remember playing with, as any kid would since it had a cool mechanism for turning on and off.  Lift the receiver off the base of the phone and the light turned on.  Put the receiver back in place and the lamp turned off.  Fun toy for a kid, even if Mom did yell at you every time you touched it. 

So, years passed, and the lamp became less and less a toy and more of just a piece of furnishing.  Nancy Richey came into my life and Mom and Dad loved her like a second daughter.  We graduated high school, Nancy married Ken, they went to Virginia to serve in the Navy and about 2 years later they returned to Florida with their young son.

Upon their return they needed some help.  Since my family owned a grocery store, Nancy turned to them, and as any parent would do, Mom and Dad stepped up.  Along with a few other items, Mom passed the lamp to Nancy to help furnish an apartment.

The first time I visited from Ohio I noticed the lamp and recognized it immediately.  Nancy told me the story of their return and how Mom and Dad pitched in with some help.  Nan promised that she would return the lamp to me at some future date.

More years passed and every time I visited Nan and Ken, in any house where they lived, the lamp was always present.  Their kids, now a family of 3 had the same experience as me, playing with the lamp as they grew up.  Then one day the lamp was not around.  I asked Nan about it and she said it had disappeared.  I was heartbroken as I always expected to one day have the lamp returned. 

So fast forward to April 2020, Nan passes unexpectedly and her youngest son, Jonathan calls to let me know of her passing.  We talked several times over the next week and somehow over the course of those conversations the subject of the lamp came up.  Jonathan remembered the lamp and promised to keep an eye open for it.

A week or so later he called, letting me know the lamp had been discovered.  He shipped it to me and I was so thrilled to have it back.  It came back in rather rough condition, but it was all there.  I took the lamp to Wiebold Studios to see if they could recondition it.  They could!!

Old phone before reconditioning

Today I picked up the lamp.  It is gorgeous!!  As I was checking out I found a company name I had not noticed before, it was a Kellogg Phone.  The employee at Wiebold’s did a quick Google search and found that the phone is a 1901 Candlestick Phone, which now leads me to believe that it could have been a grandparent’s phone, since Mom and Dad were born in 1917 and 1920. 

So, I called Jonathan and told him the great news. He was pleased, and told stories of how he played with the phone as a kid and when they found the phone at Nan’s house Jonathan’s older brother, Kenny, also remembered playing with the phone. 

What Jonathan doesn’t know is that I plan to return the phone to him at some point in time.  If nothing else, through my Will.  I’m hoping that the long tradition of kids in the Hallsted and Richey families playing with that phone/lamp will continue in to the far distant future!!!

Reconditioned phone lamp