Jolene Maggard, lead records specialist for the Mercer Island Police Department, retired July 29 after 28 years with the city.

She worked as a dispatcher for 17 years when the Island had its own communication center and each dispatcher was a “one-man band,” before the city contracted with Kirkland, then NORCOM.

Maggard started out in the medical field and was hired in Mercer Island after taking an emergency dispatch class at Renton Technical College.

“I saw a sign outside the college [for the class] and thought, I could probably do that,” she said.

After three years, she started the CARE — Community Awareness in Reporting Emergencies — program in 1991, which was “very near and dear” to her.

Maggard is “a wonderful advocate for everyone who needs help,” a friend told the Reporter.

She said she doesn’t have any long-term plans for retirement besides visiting her daughter, who lives in Houston. She won’t miss waking up to an alarm every day, but will miss the department staff (“they’re like my kids,” she said) and “just the everyday stuff.”

“Every day was different, and that was my philosophy: that I can learn something new every day. And I usually did,” she said.