C.R. "Bud" Hill, Jr.

Claude R. “Bud” Hill, Jr., 74, of Fayetteville, WV, passed away on March 4, 2004 at Raleigh General Hospital, Beckley, WV. He was born on May 6, 1929 in Oak Hill, WV to Claude R. Hill and Mildred Haptonstall Hill. Surviving are his wife, Cynthia G. “Pinny” Hill, daughters Kathryn H. Dutton and husband Philip K. Dutton of Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY and Mary R. Hill of Charleston, WV, sons C.R. “Rennie” Hill, III and wife Ann W. Hill of Beckley, WV and J. William Hill of Fayetteville, WV, sisters Millicent H. Fox of Chevy Chase, MD and Carolyn A. Hill of Oak Hill, WV and brother John H. Hill and wife Francis B. Hill of Costa Mesa, CA and five grandchildren. He was a lifelong member of the Oak Hill Baptist Church and served as trustee. He attended public schools in Fayette County, was a graduate of Woodberry Forrest School, VA, Yale University in New Haven, CN and Washington & Lee University College of Law, Lexington, VA. After college, he returned to Oak Hill and worked in the construction, hardware and real estate business with his father and brother until joining the law firm of Love, Abbot and Hill in Fayetteville. He was president and chairman of the board of Merchants and Miners National Bank in Oak Hill, where he helped devise and instituted some of the banking industry’s first modern services in the country including drive-in facilities and automatic teller machines. He was the first banker to support a burgeoning whitewater and tourist industry in West Virginia in the 1970’s. His banking career spanned more than 30 years, and included board membership of and interests in other West Virginia financial institutions. He also served a term on the Federal Reserve Board, Fifth District, of Richmond, VA. Mr. Hill showed a great concern for the betterment of his local and state community, having been involved in many civic, business and social organizations –several of which he helped found, and most, if not all, of which he served as an officer and board member. He had a profound interest in attracting to, and developing business in Fayette County and West Virginia. His activities included: the Fayette County and the West Virginia Chambers of Commerce (both, president); the Fayette Plateau Development Corp.; the American Bankers Association and the West Virginia Bankers Association (president); the Oak Hill Rotary Club (Paul Harris Fellow); the Buckskin Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Fayette County Republican Party; the West Virginia Turnpike Commission; the West Virginia Roundtable; Forward Southern West Virginia; and, the Whitewater Commission of the State of West Virginia. Desiring to help improve public education, he also served on the Fayette County Board of Education, on the board of the Education Alliance of West Virginia (president), and on the board of trustees and as an advisor of the West Virginia Institute of Technology. Visitation will be held on Sunday, March 7 at Tyree Funeral Home, 999 Jones Ave., Oak Hill from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 PM. Funeral services will held at the Oak Hill Baptist Church, Lundale Drive and Main Street, at 11 AM on March 8 with burial following at High Lawn Memorial Park, East Main Street, Oak Hill, WV with the Reverends David Sneed and David White officiating. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Education Alliance, PO Box 3071, Charleston, WV 25331 or the Oak Hill Rotary Club, PO Box 154, Oak Hill, WV.