Salesman not ready to embrace cell

It wasn't easy to reach The Last Man Not to Own a Cellphone.

For one thing, he doesn't own a cellphone.

I finally connected with him via a landline, the electronic version of smoke signals. Anyway, here he is, America — The Last Holdout.

His name is Bruce Wilson. He lives and works in Utah. Someday he will have a statue in the Smithsonian, and future generations will point and gawk. The plaque under his statue will read: Bruce Wilson, the last man not to own a cellphone. Somehow he managed to survive 21st century life without it. His wife and three children owned cellphones; his peers at work all owned cellphones; his friends owned cellphones. But not Wilson, who stubbornly refused them to the end.

Wilson is a husband and father; he's well-read, smart, witty, goes to church on Sunday, holds down a good job. In short, he appears to be normal.

But he's not.

Wilson thinks people should talk face to face whenever possible.

What a weirdo.

How out of step is Wilson? He has never sent or received a text message. Wouldn't know how to do it if somehow offered him a free smartphone with unlimited minutes.

"I can't figure out why people text when they could just pick up phone," he says.

This guy is whacked.

Wilson is an international sales manger for Utah Medical Products. Wait, how could he hold a job like that without a cellphone, you're wondering? He must have to spend a lot of time on the phone.

"Whenever I tell my customers I don't have a cellphone, there is always this stunned silence," Wilson says. "I tell them they can get me during business hours at the office."

What a novel concept.

Wilson has been asked a thousand times, "What's your cell number?" And: "How can you exist without a cellphone?"

Answer: "I've done it for 57 years and it seems to be working OK."

Doesn't he know what he's missing? Doesn't he want to be available 24/7, on the freeway, in church, in the bathroom, at dinner, in a movie theater, at the gym? Doesn't he want to join the rest of us? Doesn't he feel like he's missing out?

No.