The Barbour County Chamber of Commerce is grateful to its President Dr. Tim Barry, left,  for conceiving and establishing the Don and Barbara Smith Champions of Excellence Award for outstanding dedication, visionary leadership, and exceptional service to the community.

Before her passing, Dr. Barbara Smith, together with her husband Don, selected Terri Kittle, Vice President of Freedom Bank, right, for being the first Champion of Excellence for both her city of Belington and her commitment to the good of Barbour County. Kittle is a graduate of Philip Barbour High School and Fairmont State College, and received her Masters Degree in Business Administration from West Virginia Wesleyan University.  She was a compliance officer with Huntington Banks before retuning to Belington and Freedom Bank in 1999 where she started as finance manager and currently serves as a Senior Vice President.  She was President of the Chamber of Commerce in 2003 when she was a founding member of the Belington Revitalization Committee. 

Over her many years of service to the community, Kittle was a member of a West Virginia University design team and a First Impression Study, obtained funding for a Belington walking trail, partnered with the Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad to establish the Polar Express, purchased and improved the Town Square property, coordinated the Belington Fall Fest and cleanup, and, her most prized accomplishment, she says, worked for over ten years to bring the Golden Rule Department Store back to life with the help of the Woodlands Development Group.

Kittle said, “I am humbled to receive this award.  I only wanted to make Barbour County a better place for everyone.  One of my proudest accomplishments, I might add, was to establish the Salute to the Veterans at the Barbour County Fairgrounds.  Things come and go,” she said, “but the impact we have on people’s lives can last a lifetime.”