I wondered if anyone might be interested in this obit from the New York Times this weekend CLARKE WILLIAMS, 80, Chairman of Large Rural Phone Company Monroe, La, 7 June 2002 (AP) Clarke M. Williams, who built a tiny telephone company that was a gift from his parents into the large rural telecommunications concern CenturyTel. Inc died here on Wednesday. He was 80. Mr Williams who had kidney failure and was undergoing dialysis, died after surgery. He was chairman of CenturyTel, which employs more than 6,000 people and has customers in 21 states. He will be succeded by Glen Post III who is now president. Mr Williams grew up in his family's business, the 75 customer Oak Ridge Telephone Company, in northern Lousiana, which had been bought in 1930 by William Clarke and Marie Williams. One of his first jobs was working the switchboard, which was wired in the living room of the family home. After returning from WW II in 1946 Mr Williams was given ownership of the company as a wedding present and borrowed $150 to pay for the company's first dial switcher. In 1950 he bought an additional exchange in Marion La and expanded the company into a three state service with 10,000 access lines. In 1968 Mr Williams incorporated the company as Central Telephone and Electronics. The name was changed to Century Telephone Enterprises Inc in 1971 and the company went public in 1978. Last year the company rejected a $6.1 billion takeover bid from its major rival, the Alltel Co in Little Rock Ar. but agreed this year to sell its cellular business to Alltel for $1.65 billion in cash. Mr Williams is survived by his wife Mary Kathryn, two daughters, Annette Carroll of Oak Grove La and Carolyn Perry of Monroe La, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. His son, former president of Century Tel, died in 1994.