[GreenKeys] Telepals

[Jim Haynes]

For Teletype employees there was the Teletype Club, which made you a
member just by being an employee.  Teletype Club was an umbrella 
organization for a bunch of more specialized clubs it sponsored.  There
was a big garden club, and a ham radio club (with a station in one of
the Teletype buildings), a flying club, a rifle team, a photography
club, and a bunch of others for various hobby interests.

One of the annual club activities was choosing the "Hi Telepal Queen"
I forget now exactly how she was chosen, but there was a ball where she
was crowned.  During her one-year reign she represented the club and the
company for various functions, such as charitable programs the club
undertook.  One of these was around Christmas the club would get a list
of kids' names from orphanages and such, and employees would buy them
Christmas gifts which the club would present to the institution.  There
was also an annual picnic and a Christmas party and dance.

When the queen was chosen the club would print decals with her picture
and the slogan "Hi Telepal".  These were distributed to all employees via
the company employee magazine.  The idea was to put it in your car window
and then when you were about town you could recognize cars belonging to
fellow employees.  I don't think it was used as a parking pass.

The parent company Western Electric had a similar program called "Hello
Charlie" with decals.  "Charlie Western" was the symbolic W.E. employee.