I hated giving up my rotary dial. It had such a good speaker and was so easy to hear people, unless they were on a cell phone.
Still got one of those.
Indeed, my first phone call at about age 4-5 in 1951, consisted of picking up the phone and telling the operator who I wanted to call. She connected the call.
We brought a phone book for Logan WV with us when we moved to Cal in 59. The numbers were all 4 digits. 3,500 people in the county at that time, some with no phone some with party lines (cheaper rate).