Longtime Daily Herald switchboard operator dies

For 30 years, Helen Hahn was the voice of Paddock Publications, publisher of the Daily Herald, and spreading kindness to everyone she met defined her life, her children say.

Hahn, of Arlington Heights, died Friday with family by her side. She was 89.

Her job as a switchboard operator for Paddock, where she worked from 1969 to 1999, let her make a good impression on thousands of callers looking to place classified advertisements in the Daily Herald or be connected with a reporter or editor.

“She took a lot of pride in her job,” Hahn’s daughter, Cynthia Hahn of Colorado Springs, Colo., said. “She said, ‘You know, I’m the first thing they hear.’”

Hahn made sure she was friendly to every caller, but she also was a “joker,” said her son, John, of Algonquin. She once wore a Halloween costume to work, but on another occasion, the joke was on her.

Hahn didn’t follow sports, so when someone asked to be connected with Dick Butkus, she got on the loudspeaker and asked “Will Dick Butkus please call the front desk,” thinking he was a visitor in the office, her son said.

Co-workers all knew and respected Hahn, said Bob Paddock Jr., the company’s vice chairman and executive vice president.

“She did her job remarkably well, keeping track of all those incoming calls by using one of those old-fashioned plug-in boards that you can still see in an old Lucille Ball movie. It’s a remarkable feat,” Paddock said. “Helen handled a tremendous number of calls. She was busy as can be connecting one call to the different lines and extensions, but through it all she was sincerely nice and helpful to the customers.”

In 1979, she got a letter of commendation from Gov. James Thompson. “Sources in my office have indicated to me that you are perhaps the friendliest newspaper switchboard operator they deal with on a regular basis,” he wrote.

At home, where she and husband Frederick had five children, Hahn’s personality remained the same, Cynthia Hahn said.

“Very kind, very happy, very positive,” she said. “Always smiling, always kind, generous.”

The friendliness Hahn conveyed while working the switchboard wasn’t a phony phone voice, her son said.

“When she had a cold or whatever was bothering her, she was always still upbeat and happy,” he said. “It took a lot to get Mom down.”

Neighbors also were recipients of Hahn’s kindness and sunny personality, as she lived in the same Arlington Heights home for 60 years and got to know new residents as they moved into the area, her children said. Neighbors would see her working on her gardens of flowers and tomatoes, or sitting outside simply enjoying the sun.

She also enjoyed playing on a bowling league with co-workers and cooking specialties like pork roast with German noodles while away from the switchboard. But spreading cheer and being friendly to everyone were the constants in Hahn’s life, her daughter said.

“She spread that generosity and happiness to everybody she met,” Cynthia Hahn said. “She had a smile on her face for every person she met.”

Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Lauterburg & Oehler Funeral Home, 2000 E. Northwest Hwy., Arlington Heights. Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, with interment in Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights.