Telephone man, former mayor and poet

For longtime resident Thomas Gentry, life in Springtown has transitioned from working for the local telephone company, public office to now enjoying retirement through poetry.

Gentry originally moved to Springtown as a young child in the late 1950s and spent much of his career working for the local telephone company from the early 1980s until his retirement in 2016. Over a span of 36 years, he held several roles, including installation and repair technician to retiring as a central office technician.

Gentry said he and his co-workers took a lot of pride in servicing the city, especially at the beginning of his career in the early 1980s when telephones were still a scarce resource for residents.