Nobody I knew had phones until later on in highschool and for me that was about 2005. Part of that may be age but I clearly remember my parents (and none of their friends) or my extended family having phones either. I was the first to get one and it felt like a privilige.
Wow, was the US really that far behind? Or is it possible you are misremembering a bit? Here in europe I was already regularely texting way back in 1998 on my trusty Alcatel.
This is the bay area peninsula