Evelyn Wise, Block Operator For Railroad

In 1965 Evelyn Wise retired from the railroad and moved back to her home in Cape Charles.  She was a block operator and a ticket agent in Delmar, plus she handled calls for the Delmar volunteer Fire Company.  At the time she was one of two female block operators on the Delmarva line, the other being Virginia Gladden who worked in Cape Charles on the evening shift.  A block operator controls the movement of the trains in his/her "block. "  She had radio communication with all the trains and they could not move unless she gave permission or the all clear for them to move. 

Evelyn was born in Delmar in 1901 to Harland E. Lowe and Clara Delma Honey Lowe.  Her father worked for the railroad and shortly after her birth the family was transferred to Cape Charles. She started work for the railroad (Norfolk division ) in 1919 as a switchboard operator.  In 1954 she became a block operator in Cape Charles.  She had taken a furlough from the railroad from 1928 to 1943.  Shortly after being made a block operator the Cape Charles office closed and her and her husband were transferred to Delmar.  They kept their home in Cape Charles.  She had married John Vernon Wise in 1922.  He also worked for the railroad.  He died in 1962.  They had no children.  She would die in 1983.