Brookfield Police Department public safety telecommunicator Stephanie A. Kulowiec of Brookfield, Connecticut, passed away on Sunday, April 17. Kulowiec was a member of the APCO Atlantic Chapter.

in a social media post, The Brookfield Police Department praised Kulowiec’s participation in community charitable events and wrote: “It is with great sadness that we announce to you the untimely and sudden passing of our friend and colleague, Emergency Telecommunicator Stephanie Kulowiec. Stephanie, better known as Steph and for her obsession with tie-dye, has served the Town of Brookfield’s Emergency Services for 29 years.”

The Danbury News Times reported that she served as the first female president of the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department in the mid-1990s.

Brookfield Fire Chief Andrew Ellis told the newspaper that she always kept her cool during emergency dispatching.

“She was always calm, didn’t get excited, wasn’t afraid to give back a little attitude if she needed to – she kept us in line and was on top of her game,” he said in the news story.

The story said Kulowiec graduated from Western Connecticut State University in 1986.