When Blake Callaham decided to follow his lifelong goal of completing his bachelor’s degree 15 years ago, he expected support from his employer, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative.

What he did not expect was a phone call from the cooperative’s general manager.

“I was a technician at the time and was totally floored to get this phone call from Richard Ruhl,” he said. “His whole purpose was to encourage me and share his experience of going to school at night to complete his degree.

“I would say that from that point on, just here and there, he found opportunities to share words of wisdom and really coached me to become the person I am today.”

As of Thursday, Callaham succeeds Ruhl as the fourth general manager of the cooperative, following an eight-month transition when he worked side-by-side with Ruhl as designate for the top executive position.

Ruhl officially retired Wednesday after 46 years at the cooperative and 27 years as general manager.

Ruhl was the third generation of his family to hold the top position at the cooperative, but not without first learning the ropes from the bottom up.

“When he was in middle school, he was up here working in the summer fixing phones,” Callaham said, noting that Ruhl not only has an understanding of all aspects of the business, but he also has an appreciation for every one of the more than 500 employees.

“One thing I’ve learned just by observing his behavior is Richard will always greet you by name with a handshake and look you in the eye,” he said. “It didn’t matter if you are brand new to the cooperative or someone who had been here 40 years, he knew your name and would ask about your family and make you feel comfortable.”

Ruhl advanced to custodial duties after school and on weekends during high school cleaning offices and the vehicle shop. During his summer munication system that is “future-proofed, so that you can do it once and then don’t breaks, he worked with outside plant crews.

After high school, Ruhl’s first full-time job with the cooperative was working with the outside crew responsible for laying copper cable to each residence to convert from party lines to one-party dial services.

Since his advancement to general manager in 1994, Ruhl has piloted the cooperative through unprecedented advancements in the telecommunications industry, from landline phones to wireless communications, internet and digital TV services, high-speed broadband and fiber optics and other cutting-edge products and services.

One of the last major projects he’s spearheaded has been the replacement of all those copper lines he helped install as a new employee with fiber.

Working with the board of directors and his executive team, Ruhl also presided over a meteoric expansion in total assets, from $154.5 million to more than $515 million today.

But Callaham said that success never obscured Ruhl’s understanding of how he got there, or his appreciation for everyone who made it possible.

Ruhl politely declined a final interview with the Times & Free Press or even a photograph next to a commemorative plaque installed at the cooperative’s Kingfisher headquarters in his honor.

He conveyed a message through the cooperative’s public relations office that “he is on his way out and if anything is going to be done, it should be about Blake.”

“Yeah, I was in his office when he said that,” Callaham said, noting that the statement was consistent with Ruhl’s insistence that his exit would be without fuss or fanfare.

“For the most part, we’ve respected that wish not to make a big deal,” he said.

However, the last monthly meeting of the cooperative’s 45 department and division managers became “a couple hours of everyone reflecting on their experiences with Richard.”

“The theme of everyone’s stories was how genuine he was and how he knew you,” Callaham said. “Even when you were on the construction team, he knew your name and knew your story.

“I’ll probably hear from him about this later, but the attention needs to be on him,” Callaham said. “Hopefully, I’ve got another 30 years or so to build my legacy.”

After following a similar trajectory to the general manager’s seat, Callaham said he shares Ruhl’s appreciation for every employee.

He began his career in 1998 as a construction lineman in his native town of Frederick, spending nearly 15 years in the local operations department as combination technician, local manager and then local service administrator working throughout southwest and central Oklahoma.

From there, he advanced to department manager of records administration and facility engineering before serving the last six years as division manager of marketing, sales and customer service.

“There’s some things that Richard and I have in common and that is one of them,” Callaham said of his career path. “I don’t view myself as anyone that’s better than anyone else and hopefully my past proves that.”

He also wants to continue to build on what he calls the cooperative’s “rural legacy” – being customer-focused and conscious of membership needs.

“I was customer facing for many years and understand the thought that if what we’re doing is not working then we’ve got to get it working because customers depend on us.”

Callaham also is recommitting to a family-focused culture, both within and without the cooperative, which he said will be a topic of the annual employee meeting in October.

As for operational goals, ongoing fiber buildout is definitely a priority, he said.

“One thing we can say, as of recently, over 50% of our membership have fiber available and that’s a huge goal to achieve,” he said. “Our hope is that in five years, we’ll have about 95% with fiber access.”

Callaham called fiber “the path to everything,” an essential step toward a comerage have to redo it.”

“As long as you have the foundation of fiber then the services are unlimited that you can build upon it,” he said.

But as excited as Callaham is about what the future holds, he was more interested Monday in talking about his mentor, who over the last eight months also has become a good friend.

“I’ve known Richard from a professional perspective for a long time, but this past eight months, I’ve really gotten to know him as a person,” he said.

“That’s been interesting. For instance, he loves rock and roll and loves going to live concerts. Did you know that?”

Ruhl’s impeccable workplace attire – always a suit and tie – is something Callaham has also tried to emulate, but still finds himself falling short.

“At our last meeting last week, I wore a really fancy suit jacket thinking I might outdo him,” he joked. “But he still showed up dressed better than me.”

Callaham said he will miss his daily interaction with Ruhl, “but I’m not losing his cellphone number.”

In typical Ruhl fashion of acknowledging his roots, one of his last acts as general manager was a tour he requested for Tuesday of the central office and data center where he had his first introduction to the business as an 11-year-old.

“That was his last request to me, a visit to the technology piece of it,” Callaham said. “At heart, he’s a technology person and that sums it all up.

“He wanted to admire it in person one more time.”