Photo by Deb Gau Mary Gislason has served as a Lyon County dispatcher for more than 43 years. She says every day at the dispatch center is different, and she’s also enjoyed getting to help people

MARSHALL — You might never have seen Mary Gislason at work. But if you’ve ever made an emergency call in Lyon County, you might have heard her.

Gislason, a Marshall resident, has served as a dispatcher with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office since 1981. It’s a role that links together members of the public and emergency responders.

“It’s that calm, cool, collected voice on the other end of the radio, which is what we want of our dispatchers, you know. They’re the calm in the storm,” said Sgt. Adam Connor of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. “Mary has exemplified that for all of my time here.”

Every day at work in the dispatch center is different, Gislason said.

“Sometimes you have several ambulance calls. Sometimes those ambulance calls are all at the same time. The next time, there’s nothing going on but you hate to say anything,” Gislason said. “You do not want to say ‘quiet.’ Because things can change in a moment.”

Gislason will be retiring next week, after more than 43 years as a dispatcher.

“It’s 44 years with the county. In February (1981) I started in the Auditor’s Office, and then in September I moved over here. So it’s been 43-and-a-half (years) here,” Gislason said.

Gislason said she started her job with the Sheriff’s Office not knowing a lot about being a dispatcher.

“I wasn’t quite sure about it, because I knew it involved a computer,” she said.

When Gislason started working as a jailer and dispatcher, the Sheriff’s Office kept one dispatcher on duty. The Tracy and Marshall Police Departments each had their own dispatchers.

At the Sheriff’s Office, she said, “It was one jailer and one dispatcher on duty at all times. And now it’s I don’t know how many jailers, and they’re in a separate room. And generally there’s two dispatchers.”

“We went to two when the (Marshall) PD moved over in 1999,” said Sheriff Eric Wallen.

For Gislason’s first nine or 10 years with the Sheriff’s Office, she said, “We were combination jailer dispatchers. The dispatchers were females and the jailers were male. That way, if a female came in (to the jail), we did all the processing and the booking, serving their meals, cell checks. And the jailer would sit desk while we did that, and basically when we got back we had to catch up on the paperwork.”

In the 1980s, many aspects of the dispatchers’ work were very different from now. Gislason said she received one week of training compared to the three months of training dispatchers undergo today. There were also no pagers to contact emergency responders.

“To get ahold of firemen and whatnot, it was calling them on the phone. And it rang into their different homes, and they’d all be picking up at different times as you’re trying to repeat where (the incident) is at and what’s going on,” she said. When Gislason started working, there were no “fire numbers” for rural addresses either, so giving directions to a fire could be complicated.

The technology used in the dispatch center has also changed a lot.

“The console has changed. Before, it was one long one with one computer. Now, there’s numerous screens with three computer setups,” Gislason said. “And back then, you typed your paperwork for every call, and now it’s all computerized.”

“Everything is different. Every day is something new, just constantly changing,” Gislason said. She said she’s also enjoyed “the people I work with, and being able to help people.”

Mary’s husband Dave Gislason was also a dispatcher, first for Marshall Police and then for the Minnesota State Patrol in Marshall. The change over to the State Patrol dispatch was one that Mary said worked out well for both her and Dave.

“Some people can work alongside each other. We could be in the same job, but we kind of decided we couldn’t be in the same room,” she said.

Connor said he remembered Gislason being a calm presence on the radio even during difficult situations like domestic calls.

“She’s always been that calm voice when chaos is going on,” he said.

Gislason said she also works to communicate with members of the public making emergency calls.

“It’s just trying to make sure that I understand where they’re at by the time I’m off the phone,” she said. “Sometimes, you just don’t get the information. You get enough to send the ambulance or an officer, and you know that’s the best you’re going to do on that one.”

It’s not easy to tell how an individual call will go, she said.

“Sometimes, you’ll get it where somebody will call in and you think it sounds like it could be the worst thing, and it really wasn’t that bad. And the next time, they’re very calm and it’s a very difficult call. You never know,” Gislason said.

“A lot of people, when they call in, that’s the worst thing that’s going to happen to them that month, year, or even in their entire lifetime,” Connor said. That was a reason why having a good dispatcher was an important asset.

“They are truly the first point of contact for someone,” Wallen said.

Wallen said dispatchers like Gislason also play a crucial role in checking in with patrol officers and deputies, and making sure firefighters and ambulance crews know where to go.

“They are truly our lifeline as well,” he said.

Wallen said it would be hard to say goodbye to Gislason when she retires.

“She has been one of the constants for our office, for 43-and-a-half years,” he said.

When she retires, Gislason said she hopes to spend time with family and do some traveling.

“I want to start traveling to see places I haven’t seen,” she said. “I’m taking a bus tour later this spring, and going to Hawaii this fall with my sister.”

“I’ll just see where life takes me,” she said.