Anna Curtis, a veteran telecommunicator and APCO member in Burlington, N.C., died Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015, at Alamance Regional Medical Center after a short battle with cancer. She was 56.

Mrs. Curtis joined the 9-1-1 dispatch center in Burlington in 1993. At the time of her death, she was the communications operations manager for the Burlington Police Department and a dedicated member of the North Carolina APCO.

According to Rick Thomas, Emergency Communications Center Supervisor in Apex, N.C., Mrs. Curtis was a strong proponent for secondary PSAP funding in North Carolina, as well as an advocate for training for telecommunicators in the state.

Mrs. Curtis was a 1984 graduate of Elon University and was on the APCO training committee.

A woman of great compassion, Mrs. Curtis was known to take food and supplies to the Burlington Animal Shelter and was president of the Burlington-Alamance Jaycees. She died just one month after being diagnosed with cancer.

“Anna’s smile and contagious laugh will surely be missed within the North Carolina 9-1-1- family,” Thomas said. “Please continue to keep Anna’s family and colleagues in your thoughts and prayers as they deal with the loss of such an amazing lady.”

Mrs. Curtis was affectionately known as “mama” by her fellow telecommunicators.

“All the telecommunicators called her ‘mama,’ because she called all of them her ‘kids,’” Capt. Jeff Wood told the Burlington Times-News. “She was their supervisor, and they respected her as their supervisor, but she called them her ‘kids.’”

Earlier this year, Curtis was interviewed by the Burlington Times-News about the changes she had seen in emergency communications technology over her two decades in the industry.

In that interview, she recalled some of the troubling calls she has heard over the years, including being the Burlington dispatcher who in 2001 answered a 9-1-1 call from 31-year-old Charlotte Gattis in the final seconds of Gattis’ life. Curtis remained on the line with her as she was shot and killed by her estranged husband, Christopher Gattis.

A visitation was held on Saturday, Nov. 21, and a service celebrating Curtis’ life was held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at Lowe Funeral Home.

Mrs. Curtis is survived by her husband of 22 years (Joey), her parents and her stepchildren.