Wayland Dispatcher Tom Turner: A Half-Century of Service

Tom Turner has played a role in saving lives and helping residents in Wayland for nearly half a century.

And now, it’s time for him to leave that work to someone else.

“Things are changing, and I’m not getting any younger,” Turner said. “There has to come a point some time. If I didn’t do it this year, it has to come some time.”

On Dec. 22, 2011, Turner served his last day as a dispatcher with the Wayland Joint Communications Center, a job he held since 1974 after serving as a call firefighter for Wayland in the prior several years. In all, Turner served the Town of Wayland for 47 years.

He has seen his workplace move from one building to another. He’s seen the new building flood, the police and fire dispatch centers combined into a joint center, Wayland’s first female police officer join the force and then retire, 911 come to town, and technology expand beyond his wildest dreams.

“I started out with a radio, a typewriter and a telephone,” Turner said. “We kept the log with the typewriter.”

With each change, Turner said he enjoyed the challenge of learning something new. Perhaps that fascination is because communication isn’t just Turner’s job, it’s also his hobby.

From One Radio to Another

Turner’s family moved to Wayland in 1954. Today, he shares his parents’ Wayland home with his brother, Richard, after they inherited the house in 2009. He has lived in Wayland for nearly three decades, though not all at the same time.

Tom Turner attended Emerson College where he worked for the college’s radio station, pursuing a dream of becoming a radio announcer.

While that dream of becoming an on-air personality didn’t pan out, he did work behind the scenes in the industry for a few years and got to do the on-air sign-on once when an ice storm delayed the on-air personality from getting to work.

“I would have liked to go into radio,” Turner said. “Career paths take strange turns sometimes. I did it for awhile, but the pressure in that business is a lot.”

Turner found himself back in Wayland serving as a call firefighter. At the time, he said, firefighters served as dispatchers, and the Turner home was a five-minute walk from the fire station. He was often called upon to fill in on the phones.

“I’ve always had an interest in the communications aspect of everything,” Turner said. “That’s my way of serving, I guess you could say.”

Changing Times

Wayland fire and police did not share a dispatch center when Turner began his service, but that changed in 1981, around the same time that Wayland began handling 911 calls.

In the beginning, 911 dispatch wasn’t as efficient as it is today. Emergency responders would arrive at an address in one town just to discover that they should have headed to an identical street address in another town.

Mapping technology has alleviated that issue for the most part, Turner said.

”You can actually dial 911 anonymously, and we’ll still get an address in most cases,” Turner said, adding that police respond to every 911 call, even if the caller claims it was an accident. “I’d say 911 is probably one of the best [changes].“

But there have been other changes… such as the addition of women to the roster of the Wayland Police Department, beginning with Sandy O’Brien, Wayland’s first female police officer who joined the force in 1976.

O’Brien retired in 2001, but she found her way back to the Wayland Public Safety Building on Dec. 22 to celebrate Turner’s career during a small “last day at the office” party.

During that party, O’Brien told other well-wishers that Turner had been a critical part of her learning the ropes at the department. After all, in those days, officers didn’t attend a police academy prior to joining the force. They would often work for a time – in O’Brien’s case, it was two years – before the department could afford to send the “new” recruit to training. Turner, O'Brien said, helped her navigate her new job.

And, since O'Brien couldn’t type, Turner also typed her police reports, she confessed with a laugh.

“Tom was there,” O’Brien said. “He’s very dedicated, very helpful.”

Wayland Fire Chief Bob Loomer agrees.

“Tommy has always been there,” Loomer said during the party. “Tommy never forgot the red side of the building.”

Challenges and Memories

Turner said that dedication can be a burden, though it also forced him to overcome some childhood timidity.

“I was very shy when I was growing up – not anymore,” Turner said. “You have to deal with the people. Good or bad, you have to deal with them. You can’t get emotionally bogged down in these calls. You do what you have to do, but it does affect you.”

Turner said he won’t miss the long shifts or occasional stressful situations, but he will miss his co-workers. And, if it weren’t for his amateur radio hobby, he’d probably miss the communication element.

For the past several years, Turner has joined a team of about 250 ham radio operators to work the Boston Marathon, radioing for medical assistance along the route or checking in at the various checkpoints.

Other than that, the new retiree said he plans to “veg out.”

He will probably also dance a little more. Turner said he likes music – jazz, pop, classical, whatever – and dancing of all types. Both of which he plans to indulge now that he doesn’t have to get up at 5 a.m. to go to work.

“I’ll take it easy for a bit. Enjoy life,” Turner said. “I’ve worked a long time.”