It’s hard to not smile when talking to Debra Elmore. She radiates positivity, and her happiness is infectious.
She has shined her light on so many, and that was evident during a retirement party held in her honor Thursday, June 29. Elmore, who was Attala County’s terminal agency coordinator and a longtime dispatcher, retired from public service after 25 years last week.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s been 25 years, but it’s been an amazing journey,” said Elmore. “I got to do what I absolutely love, and that is taking care of others. As a dispatcher, that’s what you are — you’re a servant — and as a Christian, that’s what you are — a servant.”
Elmore is a Kosciusko native and graduate of Kosciusko High School, where she was named Miss KHS and was a cheerleader. She is also a graduate of Mississippi State University, where she studied marketing.
Elmore said she felt God directing her to become a dispatcher.
“I believe God put me there, because when I first moved back home to Kosciusko, I had three opportunities,” she said, “and I chose Kosciusko Police Department because I wanted to be a dispatcher because I wanted to serve others. What better way?”
Elmore began working as a secretary in the police department in August 1998.
Then she started filling in for the court clerk and in the dispatching office when the dispatchers would take their lunch break.
This soon transitioned into her moving to the dispatching department and doing what she had wanted to do since she began working at the department.
Elmore was a perfect fit for the position, and she had a natural gift of staying calm under pressure and talking to people in a way to help them stay calm as well.
It’s a skill that can’t be taught, she said.
“It’s God-given. God gave it to me,” Elmore said. “It’s a gift from God, and it’s wisdom and experience.”
Being a dispatcher in a small town can be hard, especially when you know the person on the other end of the phone. It could be a friend, a neighbor, a church member or even a family member.
The hardest call Elmore ever took was when a shooting occurred on North Natchez Street near Upper Elementary.
“My granddaughter was at that school, and she heard the shots,” said Elmore, “and it was her dad who got killed.”
When Elmore answered the call, she said she just knew something bad was about to happen, even though she did not find out who was shot until later.
“I had a gut feeling it was him,” she said. “I couldn’t go right that second. I sent my daughter to go check on my granddaughter.
“He gives you what you need to do that job. … I’ve had some tough calls, but I’ve had some good ones, too.”
One of those good calls was when Elmore helped a woman deliver her baby.
She said when she answered the call, a woman screamed, “I’M HAVING A BABY!”
Elmore assisted the woman. “She and I delivered that baby on the phone.”
She said what she has enjoyed most about her job is the people. “All the different people I have met from all walks of life. I love people,” she said. “I’m there to serve people and God put me there.”
Elmore is the mother of three daughters — Christin, Jasmine and Candace — and has 18 grandchildren.
Her retirement has already gotten off to a good start.
She had a one-way ticket to Madison, Wisconsin, where one of her daughters lives, and traveled there over the weekend. She will remain a Kosciusko resident, but she will be staying with her daughter’s family in Wisconsin for the rest of the year.
This week, Elmore is meeting up with some of her sisters, and they are traveling to Hawaii for vacation.
Then, for the rest of the year, she will be taking a different vacation each month, including traveling to Las Vegas; Phoenix, Arizona; New Orleans; Detroit; and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Thinking back on her retirement party, Elmore said she didn’t have the words to describe it.
The party included public officials, including former mayor Jimmy Cockroft and current mayor Tim Kyle, VA nursing home nurses, Baptist Attala nurses, EMS responders, Attala County firemen, Kosciusko firemen, Attala County Sheriff’s Office deputies, the Kosciusko fire chief and Attala County fire chief and assistant fire chief, Kosciusko Police Department officers, friends, family and neighbors.
“I’m going to use this expression: Give them their flowers while they yet live. That sums it up. They gave me my flowers,” Elmore said. “Seeing all the people and all the kind words, that was receiving my flowers. It couldn’t have been more perfect.”
