Lane Handke called his wife, Cathleen, the other day to tell her he was bringing home the shelves they needed to finish their cabinet. The call cost him 25 cents.

Then, the Pierce physician phoned a friend in Omaha just to say hello. This call cost him an additional eight quarters.

Handke made his calls from a pay telephone standing outside of the Pierce Telephone Co. building. He felt drawn to this pay phone by curiosity. Pulled toward it by nostalgia.

“I hadn’t used a pay phone in decades,” he said. “People were looking and wondering what I was doing. I thought it was kind of cool.”

The pay phone in the northeast Nebraska town is one of 81 still operating in the state, according to the most up-to-date numbers from the Nebraska Public Service Commission.

The few that remain tend to o

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