Ode to Elwood

You may not recognize the name Elwood Edwards, but I can guarantee that you know his voice. In 1989, Elwood recorded the voice prompts for America Online. AOL was the way a majority of us (now old people) connected to the Internet back in the day. After hearing the sound of our 14.4, 28.8, or (if you were wealthy) 56K modem dial into one of the access phone numbers, (local numbers only, to avoid long distance charges on our home phone bill) we were greeted with a warm, gentle voice saying “Welcome!” And to add further excitement, if someone had sent you an email message, your greeting was followed up with, “You’ve got mail!” That little phrase got so popular, they even made a Hollywood movie about it. Let’s not forget about a couple other dandies….”You’ve got pictures!” And “File’s done!” It seems comical by today’s standards, but that was how most people were introduced to this wonderful thing called the Internet and e-mail.

Elwood sadly passed away on November 5th, at the age of 74. Thank you, Elwood, for your legendary gift to the technological age.