Karie Friling had it all planned out. After three-plus decades of public service in the Chicago area, she would retire and move to Florida.
The keys, to be precise.
The plan was no secret to her co-workers, even back to her stint as assistant village manager of Orland Park, Illinois, where she worked from 2006 to 2019. With four now-grown daughters, in a few years she and husband, Darrell, would perhaps settle on Islamorada, where she would take a morning shift waitressing job, serving breakfast and chatting with fisherman before they head out for their catch, then spend her afternoons as she pleased…