Pauline Eichler is shown here with Sen. James Barcia (D-Bay City), son Ed Eichler and State Rep. Terry Brown (D-Pigeon) next to the plaque that dedicates the Farmers' Market building to the late John Eichler

Pauline was one of the people responsible for making the connection at the cord board, which is the device that made the connection between people that were lucky enough to have phones back then.

Pauline was honored recently at a ceremony that acknowledged her retirement, which was attended by Senator Jim Barcia (D-Bay City) and State Representative Terry Brown (D-Pigeon). Many people gathered to thank her for her years of service, while the Farmers' Market building was dedicated to her husband John Eichler.

"John Eichler was proud to be a business leader, as well as an active community member in Pigeon," said Edwin H. Eichler, President of Agri-Valley Communications, Inc. (parent company to Pigeon Telephone) and John's oldest son. "Our family is pleased to honor him by dedicating the Farmers' Market in his name."

Pigeon Telephone Company was started by John J. Campbell in 1908 and it was sold to James Spence in the early 1920s. Crawford (Ham) Spence and Robert Spence got the business from their father and sold to John Eichler and Willis Hengy in 1972. In 1981, Hengy sold his shares to John Eichler and Jim Christner.

According to a release, John "oversaw the expansion of telecommunications services to Pigeon, including the addition of private telephone lines for the entire Pigeon exchange and the addition of exchanges in Twining and Alba, Michigan until his death in 1988."

John and Pauline were married in 1946 and had five children, Edwin, David, Neal, Beth and Sue.

Pauline graduated from CMU and taught at EPBP schools for several years. Prior to attending CMU, Pauline worked as a sub on the switchboard in 1943 for the same company she eventually owned with her husband. "I liked the switchboard; I liked the challenge of keeping it going," she explained, noting at one time a phone call to Elkton or Bayport would cost $.10 and a call to Bad Axe would be $.15.

She added, "You had to buzz them up -- one long and two short. That's how someone would know they were being called."

Pauline pointed out the pharmacy was number one and the bar was number five.

Her son Ed remembered how farmers built there own service. "They would run a line from the barbed wire fence. Everyone had a cord to their house and everyone had their own ring," he said. "The problem was that everyone else knows someone was getting a call and would listen to it."

This was the start of the party line. Back in the day, there were six to 10 people on one line.

Ed explained that touch tone came to Huron County in 1967, while private lines were built for the first time in 1972. In 1977, there were all private lines, while over 30 years later in 2008, a state of the art system has been completed.

And Pauline was there for most of it, serving Agri-Valley Communications (who is the parent company of AVCI.net and Thumb Cellular), with over 25 years of dedicated service.