The Night Shift Operator Who Never Stopped Listening

In 1963, a young woman named Doris Tanner worked the overnight switchboard at a small hospital in Abilene, Texas. Most operators dreaded the graveyard shift — hours of silence broken only by the hum of fluorescent lights. But Doris kept her headset on and her hand near the board. She understood something her coworkers didn't: the calls that came at 3 a.…