APCO Life Member Mary Katherine Messamore of Marion, Kansas, passed away May 10 at the age of 75. Messamore became a public safety telecommunicator and APCO member in 1979. She worked for improvements to the state and national association as well as the public safety communications industry until her retirement in 2011.
On February 19, 1979, Messamore went to work for the Colby Police Department as a communications officer. Messamore continued working at the police department, rising to chief communications officer. She also worked as the 9-1-1 director for Thomas County where she helped Thomas County get ready for Enhanced 9-1-1. Messamore continued working for Colby until 1994 when she accepted a position with Butler County Kansas to establish Enhanced 9-1-1.
In 1996, Messamore moved back to Northwest Kansas and went to work for Sherman County where she was hired to consolidate their Enhanced 9-1-1. She was appointed emergency management director for Sherman County. She and her father were the first father-daughter certified managers in Kansas.
Messamore took a position in Hutchinson where she became the director of Hutchinson-Reno County Communications Center (HRCEC). She retired from Hutchinson in 2011.
Messamore had a great love for APCO, the public safety communications association that she belonged to for over 40 years. She held all of the chair positions in the Kansas Chapter except secretary and served as the chapter’s Executive Council to national APCO from 1992 through 2010.
In a 2017 APCO video, Messamore said she was proud of starting a new member orientation for executive council members because “I felt like a fish out of water at my first meeting. I kept saying we need a new orientation for new members.”
She said APCO’s value lies in its status as a member-driven association.
“The training they provide. It’s the speakers they bring in for conferences that have had unbelievable experiences that you get to learn from and to learn about,” she said. “Remember the members. That’s my mantra. Remember the members because that’s the important part.”
Being involved with APCO allowed her to travel widely and by 2019 she had been to 48 of the 50 states. She traveled to China in 1988 with a group of APCO members.
Messamore is survived by her siblings Ken (Diane) Buehla, Beth (Jack Leatherman), Parker, Jane David, Janet Messamore, Bill (Debbie) Messamore, and Margie (Jay) Bartlett, and by her daughter Katie (Rob) Rahe and several grandchildren.
Memorial contributions in Messamore’s name may be directed to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or to the Cancer Center of Kansas.
A complete obituary is available here.
