David Franklin reflects on eight-year tenure managing Shelter Bay

There is much David Franklin will miss about Shelter Bay when the longtime manager of the local residential community exits Jan. 28 to write a new chapter in a career that has seen him hold positions between here and southwest Alaska.

In keeping with that literary theme, it is the characters that Franklin says he will miss most.

“Some I work with, some are in the community, all are interesting and unpredictable,” Franklin told the Weekly News. “I can see why Tom Robbins wrote his novels here. He didn’t have to make anything up.”

Franklin’s Shelter Bay story had its own twists and turns.

“When...