In the public eye: Versatility key aspect of Raymond Fire Rescue Administrative Assistant’s work

Editor’s Note: This is another in an ongoing series of Windham and Raymond town employee profiles.

By Ed Pierce

In her position as Raymond Fire Rescue Administrative Assistant, Mary Quirk plays a key role in supporting the administrative operations of the Raymond Fire Rescue Department and is a highly organized, detailed-oriented individual who bolsters the work of dedicated public safety professionals.

Raymond Fire Rescue Administrative
Assistant Mary Quirk plays a key role in
supporting the administrative operations of
the Raymond Fire Rescue Department. She
has worked for Raymond Fire Rescue since
November 2021 and issues public burn permits,
works with shift lieutenants, reviews address
assignment requests and prepares reports as
requested. SUBMITTED PHOTO    

Quirk has worked for Raymond Fire Rescue since November 2021 and during that time has accumulated vast experience and expertise in her varied duties. Among her tasks are ordering supplies and equipment; writing purchase orders and processing invoices; tracking department expenses; handling incoming phone calls; addressing resident concerns; answering questions from the public and directing them to resources as needed; and maintaining training records.

She also schedules the use of department facilities; works with shift lieutenants; issues public burn permits; reviews address assignment requests; obtains necessary information; prepares reports as requested; responds to whatever situations that may arise; and works with Fire Chief Bruce Tupper, Deputy Chief Lee O’Connor and Captain Andrew Jordan on different specialized projects.

“Supporting a group of dedicated professionals and Raymond residents is the best thing I do in this job,” Quirk said. “The biggest misconception people may have about my work is that I am a dispatcher. I am not, thank goodness.”

According to Quirk, the most challenging aspect of her duties is coordinating competing demands from department personnel.

“As a daughter of an IBM electrical engineer in Federal Systems division, I have lived in a number of states,” she said. “I graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.”

She initially began working for the Town of Raymond as a temporary employee in mid-August 2015 to cover for an employee out on maternity leave, working in code enforcement, assessing, and assisting the town manager.

“When that employee returned for two weeks, then left for a new job, I was requested to return,” Quirk said.

Throughout her professional career, Quirk has held many different jobs. 

In Huntsville, Alabama while still in college, she was a cashier, bookkeeper and competitive shopper for a drug store, and a micro circuits technician. When she lived in Houston, Texas, she was a waitress; an insurance company branch office manager; a clerk for general insurance agency; and a bookkeeper for a certified public accountant. That job entailed maintaining books for a cattle breeding ranch, the construction and operation of a quarter horse ranch, a building security service, an exotic game ranch and a cattle feed lot.

She also worked in Texas as a land systems analyst for an oil and mineral exploration company; an office manager for a securities firm; a buyer for a manufacturer of custom control cabinets and explosion-proof HVAC systems for the petrochemical industry; vice president of administration for a broker/dealer; a contract administrative assistant; an office manager for a fitness equipment manufacturer; and a Facilities Management Administrative Assistant for an ARCO Petroleum research facility.

Moving to Maine, Quirk worked as an accounting firm bookkeeper; office manager of a stock photo company; in the finance department for a disability reinsurance firm; office manager of an electronic/navigation system research and development firm; and a substitute teacher for RSU 14 before joining the Town of Raymond.

Working for the Raymond Fire Rescue Department, she’s experienced many memorable moments, but one sticks out above the rest.

“A woman came in, holding a child and obviously both in distress. She asked if this is where she should go for help,” Quirk said. “I brought her into my office. She was looking for help to escape from an abusive husband. I called Deputy Chief O'Connor to my office as the chief was out. Since we do not have a municipal police department, after we got her settled, I called the sheriff's office, relaying the information. We assured her she would be safe and she was not at fault, there being no excuse for abuse. We then brought the mother and child to an internal space, settled them with cold drinks and tissues. The deputy chief, a former deputy sheriff, sat and talked with her while I waited for a deputy to arrive. A female deputy came and met with her. As I was leaving for the day, the deputy with mother and child were also leaving. The woman blew me a kiss.”

Quirk says one thing that the public may not know about her job is how much of her duties involve rendering assistance to town residents. <