Phil Culberson on his Chatham County farm in 2023

On a warm February day earlier this year, REMC staffers visited Siler City resident and member Phillip Culberson and his wife, Faye. During this visit, Culberson recalled life before electricity on his family’s farm in Chatham County.

Phil Culberson in 1952

“Back then, things were different. We had no water heater, television or telephone,” said Culberson. “Inside bathrooms and air conditioning were unheard of.”

Around the time Culberson was 10 years old in 1960, Randolph Electric had electrified his home, and daily life in his household changed significantly.

But in 1952, the farm was not fully electrified but did have a well pump, which ensured that the family had running water. Culberson was not quite three years old then. On one chilly November day when just he and his mother were at home, he toddled off into the woods.

“My loving Mama sold hatching eggs, and her chicken houses held 500 hens. She watered, fed and gathered eggs all by hand. My Daddy worked in a local chair factory and farmed at night and on Saturdays,” said Culberson. Phil’s older sisters were not on the farm on that cold day in late November 1952, and his father had not come home from work yet.

Mrs. Culberson at the chicken coop, circa 1950s

Mrs. Culberson watched Phil pull his red wagon near his father’s beagle puppies. When she next stepped outside one of her chicken coops, her heart stopped. Little Phil was nowhere in sight. Frantic, Mrs. Culberson hunted for Phil for an hour, even searching the pond on their property. Eventually, Mrs. Culberson heard the sound of the Randolph Electric right-of-way crew from the direction of the road. She ran to tell the REMC employees of her lost little boy. The crew stopped all work immediately and spread out to form a search party. From the chicken houses, the linemen followed the gently sloping fields down toward the woods and a creek. One lineman spotted a little red wagon at the edge of the forest. Deeper in the woods, the linemen found little Phil sitting in the leaves and sad that he could not keep up with the dogs. His father's beagles had run away across the creek and left behind the sobbing toddler. Today, Phil Culberson still enjoys walking the family farm and following beagles into those same woods. He remembers the impact that REMC linemen had on his family, and the positive changes that electrification brought to his life. “I appreciate Randolph EMC for all you’ve done and all you continue to do,” said Culberson. “You’ve always been there.”