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ELKINS -- Local residents are remembering longtime businessman and community leader Lloyd Teter, who passed away Sunday at age 96.
Beginning in 1948, he worked in the family business, Teter Motors, taking over sole ownership when his father Lloyd, Sr., retired in the early 1980s.
"I knew him pretty well. He and his father were in business a long time, first his father and then him," said James "Jim" Schoonover, president of the West Virginia Railroad Museum and a longtime banking official in Elkins, told The Inter-Mountain. "I bought cars from him. He was a good businessman. I think that he tried to do his best to treat his customers fairly.
Teter Motors was sold in 2006 after 62 years in business, and Teter entered semi-retirement.
"He participated in a lot of spring auto shows that we had," Schoonover said. "I liked him. He and Sharon, his wife, made a good couple."
Teter was a long-time member of the First United Methodist Church of Elkins, the Elkins Rotary Club, and the Elks, as well as being a member of the Tygart Valley Shrine Club and a Master Mason in Elkins Lodge Number 108 AF & AM.
As a member of the Jaycees and later with other community organizations, Teter helped establish the Randolph County tradition of chicken barbecues, with a recipe that is still used in the community.
"He was very well-known from his time in the auto business, in the automobile dealer world. He was a great, community supporter, and just a wonderful person," said Robbie Morris, executive director of the Randolph County Development Authority. "It's a big loss for our community.
"He definitely lived a long and fulfilling life. He loved his family and getting out and about in his cars. He lived a nice, full life."
Today a funeral service will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Elkins at 10 a.m. Rev. Brian L. Seders and Rev. Dr. Basil A. Hensley will officiate and interment will follow in the Elkins Memorial Gardens on the Country Club Road, Elkins.