This oral history interview with Helen G. Rees was conducted by Anne Cummins at Rees’ home in Fairview, Oregon, on December 13, 1995. The interview was conducted as part of the Rural Telephone Operators Oral History Series, which was a series of interviews about telephone operators in rural areas in the early 20th century, conducted by Anne Cummins in the early 1990s.

In this interview, Rees discusses her family background and early life in Sherman County. She also talks about the family background of William A. Rees and his early life in Shaniko. Rees then discusses her life in Shaniko after her marriage to William A. Rees. She speaks at length about the telephone system in Shaniko in the 1930s and early 1940s, describing how the system worked and the equipment used, and she talks about some of the telephone operators. She closes the interview by talking about the different ways the operators served the community beyond the job of answering and directing phone calls.