Longtime local Realtor Betty Friend, 85, retired last month after nearly 20 years of serving residents on the Middle Peninsula.

Friend said she became a real estate agent with Abbitt Realty as a second career, after teaching school in her native West Virginia for a number of years. She moved to Gloucester to be closer to her children, who were living here at the time, and quickly got bored. “So, I looked for a second career,” she said.

Throughout the years, Friend said she has thoroughly enjoyed all of the people she has met, including her clients, other agents and the public. She said those she worked with at Abbitt for so many years are like family.

Friend said the real estate business has changed drastically since she first started. For example, the MLS listings used to be in a book, which was published once a month. That slowly began to transition to an online listing service and eventually the book was done away with altogether.

“When I first started, I would...