Did I format my entire letter saying goodbye to Wrangell so I could put a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" reference in the title? Yes, yes I did.
Looking back on the past three years of my life, I noticed how many of my fondest memories revolve around seafood in some way. Discovering the miracle that is smoked salmon, going fishing with my friends, watching the bears at Anan fatten up on salmon, friends and neighbors offering to share their catches of crab with me, getting to cover an autopsy of a whale for the newspaper, sharing calamari rings with friends at the Stik, the list goes on and on.
All these memories, and many others, have been coming back to me recently because my time here in Wrangell has come to an end. I moved from a small town in Texas up here to Alaska on a leap of faith, just the promise of a job and hope that everything would work out. I'd never struck out independently like that before. I'm blessed that everything did.
These past three years have possibly been some of the most important of my life. There's nothing like moving 3,000 miles away from everyone and everything you ever knew to a literal island to build confidence and self-reliance.
But that's all over now, and it's time for me to go back to Texas. I don't know what my next adventure will be, but I'm excited to find out. At the same time, I'm sad to leave. Life in Wrangell, and working for the Sentinel, has been an incredible experience. It has been a privilege to cover the news. I was proud to be a part of a community that I think truly does its best to come together to support its own.
There are so many people to thank for making my time in Wrangell as special to me as it has been, but there's only so much space in the paper I can use. So here are a few people that I especially wanted to mention.
The staff (past and present) of both the Wrangell Sentinel and the Petersburg Pilot: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to grow as a journalist and work alongside some truly amazing people.
Tawney and Bella Crowley: Thank you for being some of my first and closest friends I made on this island.
My Dungeons & Dragons group; Tyler Garbisch, Talea Massin, Edith Grover, Kent Rushton and (recently) Cyni Crary: Thank you for being good friends and for all the laughs we shared every Saturday. I'm excited for our adventures to continue, even as I move away.
The mayor, borough manager, borough clerk and borough assembly: Thank you for your availability and patience toward me as I reported the goings-on in the city, and for making time to answer my questions even with your busy schedules.
Mike Lockabey: Thanks for all the interesting stories about the "good ol' days," and for being a constantly willing and able source of information for stories around the fishing industry.
Maleah Wenzel: Thanks for being a such a good friend! I hope we stay in touch, and we see each other again someday.
Past and present staff of KSTK: Thank you for the friendly rivalry and the friendships. Also thank you for introducing me to my new love for DJ-ing. Also, thanks to Sage Smiley for all the recipes she's shared with me!
Kem Haggard, Lt. Jon Tollerud, and many other members of Wrangell's religious community: Thank you for welcoming me to your town with open arms, and for always being people I could turn to with personal and newsworthy concerns.
If you don't see your name here, please don't take it personally. It came down to the word count. There are too many people who are important to me in this town to list them all.
While I'm going to Texas, and who knows where else the future will take me, Wrangell will always be with me in my heart. Looking back, I can say that I honestly did my best to report the news fairly, to be a good member of this community, and in my own way make Wrangell a better place than how I found it.
I will miss this place and these people, and I hope to return someday.
But until then, so long and thanks for all the fish!
Editor's note: The Sentinel's new staff member, Marc Lutz, of Lodi, California, is scheduled to arrive in town aboard the ferry Friday, and will be introduced in next week's Sentinel.
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