Just in time for its Fall Festival, the Village of Middleburgh has proclaimed Saturday MIDTEL Day.
2022 marks the 125th anniversary of the former Middleburgh Telephone Company, organized by a group of local businessmen on October 25, 1897 under its first president, Dr. Christopher Best.
E. Scott Rose was elected president in 1936, when his daughter, Marjorie, was 14.
Marjorie grew up in the business, eventually marrying Randall Becker in 1946, who joined the company two years later, learning the business from the bottom up and becoming general manager in 1953.
Mr. Becker died in 2006 at the age of 84; Marjorie Rose Becker succeeded him as president for 15 years.
Mrs. Becker died on May 25, 2021.
Their son, Jim Becker, is MIDTEL president today.
Resolution #11, Establishing October 8, 2022 as “MIDTEL Day” reads:
Whereas the Middleburgh Telephone Company, hereinafter referred to as “MIDTEL” is a local business of note in the Village of Middleburgh in the State of New York, presently located on Cliff Street, and
Whereas MIDTEL has continuously served Middleburgh and the surrounding community since being established in 1897 by providing reliable telephone service, cable television, and internet services for thousands of customers; and
Whereas MIDTEL has been led by such distinguished local families as the Bests and Beckers, while employing hundreds of Middleburgh residents over the company’s one hundred and twenty-five years in operation, and
Whereas the Becker Family, and most notably Marjorie “Marge” Rose Becker, have supported the local community through altruistic endeavors too numerous to count,
Therefore, be it resolved that the Village of Middleburgh, New York, in recognition of the Middleburgh Telephone Company and all of its contributions, has established October 8, 2022 as “MIDTEL Day,” and furthermore, be it resolved that the Village Board of Trustees thanks the Becker Family for its outstanding leadership of this community enterprise.”