Big and Bulky and Full of Memories
For most of the decade-plus that I knew my late father in-law, he carried a humongous bag phone on the dash of his old Ford pickup truck.
George Bottom was a farmer in western Oklahoma, and spent much of his day in his pickup truck far out in the pasture tending cattle or repairing fences and equipment.
So, the cell phone made sense, because it’s not convenient to break down three miles deep in a pasture and have no way to call for help.
But it was his choice of the bag phone that amused me. It weighed about 10 pounds, was covered with dust from the red western Oklahoma dirt and sometimes would fall from its perch on the dash into the floorboard.
It worked, however, and that’s all George cared about. He had no use for new-fangled flip phones or tiny handhelds.
George passed away in 2003, and I thought the use of bag phones may have died with him.
Now Motorola has revived the bulky bag phone in a couple of models that are being marketed by wireless companies in Oklahoma. The new digital bag phones are targeted for farmers like George, and the energy and forestry industries, officials with U.S. Cellular told me.
When I saw that bag phone at a local U.S. Cellular office, it brought back a flood of memories — all of them good ones — about my father in-law.
Long live the bag phone.
Jim Stafford
Business News Reporter
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