After 22 years of service with Louisville/Winston E-911, the last 13 as 9-1-1 Coordinator, Vera McCarty has chosen to take her retirement. McCarty began her years of service on November 6, 1996 and will be officially out-of-service on June 30, 2018.
On Wednesday, June 13, she was treated with a retirement reception at the 9-1-1 dispatch center where many friends and co-workers can to wish her well in this new phase of her life.
McCarty is a Choctaw County native, and still lives there with her sister Aleta Faye McDaniel. She has one son, Jamie Blaine, who has served in the United States Air Force for the past 20 years. Blaine will officially be separated from the Air Force in December, and plans to move to San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Kelly, and their two children.
McCarty began her 9-1-1 career when she applied for a position on the advice of current Choctaw County Sheriff Cloyd Halford, and took the position of 9-1-1 Coordinator on January 1, 2005, upon the retirement of her predecessor.
During her career there have been many difficult situations, as well as great joys to look back upon. McCarty stated that emergency telecommunications is not a job that just anyone can do, as the stress levels can be very high.
In February 2012 McCarty suffered a heart attack and underwent open heart surgery two days later, but made a good recovery. Only two years later she and her staff, who she referred to as ‘her girls’, had to deal with the tornado that struck Winston County. She stated that those long hours were some most difficult.
She said the people are the best part of her job, and what she will miss the most, and spoke very highly of her staff, stating that she believes Winston County has an exemplary dispatch staff in service, and added that they had given her incredible support over the years.
At the retirement reception, Mayor Will Hill read a proclamation recognizing her many years of service, and she was presented with a shadow-box and a crystal desk ornament in commemoration of those years.
McCarty was quite emotional as she thanked those who came to celebrate; she thanked her staff, and asked them to support her successor as well as they have her.
She stated that she plans to do some work around her home and looks forward to being able to travel, and with her son moving to Texas she is sure she will travel back and forth quite a bit.
