After nearly 51 years working in the telecommunications industry, Mack Shook, area plant supervisor for CenturyLink, announced he will retire at the end of July. Mack began his career in 1959 with Stromberg Carlson installing a new switch in Siloam Springs. After a brief stint with Holt Telephone Company in Poteau, Okla., Shook worked for Stromberg Carlson until going to work as a toll switchman for Continental Telephone Company in Alma in 1966.

In 1976, Shook was promoted to a supervisory capacity in Gentry, responsible for all switching and toll equipment for Continental in northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma. He remained in that capacity throughoutseveral mergers and acquisitions; Continental (later Contel) merged with GTE, which became part of Verizon, who later sold the Arkansas and Oklahoma properties to CenturyTel (which later merged with Embarq to become CenturyLink).

“Mack has been a valuable asset to the telephone companies and customers he served over a long, distinguished career,” said Jim Bradley, CenturyLink area operations manager. “He has managed change through the many technology evolutions in our industry, from early dial tone to the digital age.”

“I’ve enjoyed serving generations of telephone and now Internet and entertainment customers over the years,” Shook said.

He and his wife, Leona, reside in Siloam Springs.

News, Pages 11 on 07/21/2010