Colby Eagles Alumni Association
Mary Messamore, 1965
Communications Expert
Nominated by Mary Kay Bowen
Mary Messamore seems to be someone for whom communications among people is a natural instinct. She comes from a family with six siblings. Her dad, her brothers and sisters as well as her daughter are graduates of Colby High School.
Copyright Colby Eagles Alumni Association @ 2014
This tendency for communication with others became obvious in February 1979, when she was hired by the Colby Police Department as a part time dispatcher. In Mary’s own words she said she felt like she had found her true calling. She worked her way up from part time dispatcher to the Chief Communication Officer in Colby. She has served as President of the Kansas Association of Public-safety Communications Officials.
Her talent was recognized by other law enforcement departments throughout Kansas because of her tireless efforts for the enhancement of 9-1-1- emergency systems. Mary and her dad, Ken Messamore (class of 1940) were the first father-daughter combination to become Certified Emergency Managers in Kansas. In addition to the time in Colby, she managed emergency communication systems in Butler, Sherman, and Reno counties and retired from Reno County in January 2011.Retirement has found her spending time with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, but that instinct for communication among people continues. She has spent the last two years of her retirement establishing the Facebook site, “You know you are from Colby, Kansas if you remember…” Not only has she helped connect her own classmates and those of her siblings, but also she has created a site that unites all people who are lucky enough to have ever called Colby home. If you haven’t logged on, be sure and join now…you don’t know what you have been missing. Mary made this site for anyone who lived in or now lives in Colby to share memories of growing up in a lovely hometown. 