Creswell’s Cara Coltrain serves as Camden County Sheriff’s Office’s Records Manager, a post that sees her serve as the information lifecycle of the organization and an invaluable asset to its daily proceedings.
The daughter of Ron and Ginny Ambrose, Cara grew up immersed in the world of firefighting and emergency response. As one might imagine, being the daughter of one of Creswell Fire Department’s longest serving chiefs has meant that she has donned the equipment of the trade and served her community sine she was a teenager.
“My dad has been Chief for over 20 years... Ever since I was little, he's always been my go to the how to solve problems and things like that,” Coltrain said during a prior interview with the Beacon. Naturally, she would go on to become one of the youngest members of the team and it’s secretary, a position that came with its share of paperwork and would be an early stepping stone towards her later career.
Still, Coltrain would eventually see what else loomed beyond the discipline she knew and loved. After graduating from the NERSBA Early College in 2018, Coltrane attended College of the Albemarle where she pursued nursing.
However soon after, she found that this brief pivot was not for her. Instead, Coltrain turned her sights back towards where her heart has always been, mainly the world of emergency preparedness and response.
“I ended up going to COA for some nursing classes but honestly that didn't really work out,” she says. “So I came back home for a little while and ended up as a dispatcher in Washington County.”
Coltrain would go on to work as a dispatcher for the call center for the next year and a half before transferring to Dare County for a spell before returning to her home county. Over the next few years Coltrain’s life would change dramatically, including obtaining her BS in Emergency Management from Elizabeth City State University.
That decision was inspired in part by her background but also by one of her biggest influences, and indeed, one of Washington County’s most well known figures...
