CHEYENNE — As the old saying goes, life takes many twists and turns and happens while people go about making plans for their lives.

Howard Woody, Union Telephone, recently received a Legacy Award from the Wyoming Business Alliance/Wyoming Heritage Foundation for recognizing and honoring his years in business and is an example of how the winds of life changes a person’s story.

As of today, Woody is still the president and serves on the Board of Directors for Union Telephone/Wireless and goes into the office daily.

Woody of Mountain View, had his sights on earning a degree in electrical engineering after returning home from his stint in the Army during World War II, which included a march across a big expanse of Europe before safely returning home.

He grew up and graduated from Mountain View High School, a small rural school, travelled across a major portion of Europe, and actually used his return-trip ticket his friend, Garvin Richey, talked about as the two sailed out to Europe. Woody said his friend was smoking a cigarette and asked Woody if they thought they would get to use the round-trip ticket.

Woody lived a lifetime in Bridger Valley, working and helping to build a company that celebrated its centennial in 1914. Hard work, determination and perseverance were the hallmarks of Woody as he helped build Union Telephone from a local entity with something like 160 lines to a multi-million dollar telephone service provider, which operates in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Colorado.

This led to Woody being named one of three men from Wyoming recently to receive a Legacy Award from the Wyoming Business Alliance/Wyoming Heritage Foundation. This award was presented to Woody at a banquet at the Governor’s Business Forum Nov. 13. Although Woody, now 97, was unable to attend, his grandson Brian Woody and employee of Union was on hand to accept the award and play a video in which Howard Woody talked about his reaction, noting it made him all jumpy, warm and excited inside to receive the honor.

Howard Woody, however on returning home, had gone to work for Union Pacific. Union Pacific offered to pay for Howard’s tuition and provide him a salary while attending college. The college and salary offer was an incentive to encourage Woody to remain with Union Pacific and reward his efforts in completing a critical survey to map a route for the Aspen Tunnel on the railroad east of Evanston.

After receiving this offer, Howard’s dad John, asked Howard to take over the operations of Union Telephone. Taking over in the 1940’s Howard Woody then focused his energy to make the company viable and secured financing from the Rural Electrification Association (REA) for close to $500,000 to upgrade equipment and expand services. The company was generating a respectable profit within five years. 

The company has grown from a family-run operation with a few employees to close to 300 employees, one of the largest employers in Uinta County.

“We couldn’t have done it without these employees,” Woody added. “We’ve got so many good employees.”

Today, Union Wireless has 40,000 landline and wireless customers and owns over 365 cell towers connected to a vast national network of other wireless providers.