After more than three decades of being a major force of the real estate community on the Peninsula Myla McFarland put in her last day as a realtor at Century 21 Freedom Realty last week. Myla is the daughter of the legendary Cotton Moore who came to Alaska in 1958 and homesteaded on the Moose River in Sterling and the sister of Ron Moore who got her started in the real estate business. “Being Cotton’s daughter was very interesting at all times and yes we did eat a lot of ribs, but he never shared his secret recipe with anyone. My brother Denty Moore who took over his barbeque business has as close a recipe as anyone has ever been able to come up with,” said Myla at her retirement party. “I started in real estate after a little tragedy in our family and my brother Ron said Sis you need to get out of the house come to work for me. So I started as secretary for him and he encouraged me to get my license and I did and started out with Dave Keating as my first broker at Century 21 Peninsula Realty,” she said.

McFarland and her husband Lee will heading outside to Idaho for a few years, “We want to do something different, we’ve been here most of our lives and have never done anything else so we’re going on an adventure, but we have a daughter here and we’ll be back,” said. For the next generation looking for a career in real estate Myla said, “It’s a great profession and I enjoyed it the whole thirty years. Sam Barnes and I partnered up about eight years ago when my mom and dad became ill and my load was heavy, she has been a great partner and friend and it’ll be hard leaving her as we transition to our new adventure of retirement. But as a people person I have enjoyed getting out and helping people. There is a lot of education that we have to keep up with every year to keep our license, but that keeps you involved with a great group that are involved with the real estate industry,” added Myla.

A steady stream of family, friends and associates continued to crowd the Century 21 offices in Soldotna throughout the afternoon to celebrate Myla’s retirement. Her partner Sam Barnes had mixed emotions at the party, “It’s really hard to talk about what it’ll be like after she’s gone because I start crying, but we all wish her and Lee the very best down in Coeur d’Alene they deserve it and I’ll just have to go visit her,” said Barnes. “I want to thank this wonderful community for a great thirty years!” concluded an officially retired McFarland.