If we ever had a mover and shaker in our community, it's a lady by the name of Barbara K. Walters. She is a remarkable lady who has had a remarkable career.

A certificate on the wall of her office tells it all. It is presented to "Mrs. Barbara Walters in recognition of your outstanding commitment to VetsFirst, and for demonstrating that same dedication to uphold America's values that we all stand for . . ." 

“Upholding American's values.” Now where did that come from? Let's look and see.

For one thing, her husband was retired military after 20 years of service in the USAF, and the owners of the Island House – her employers -- are also retired military, both Navy. Barbara says the military services are very important to her, as well as to the owners, and they go out of their way to thank the servicemen that protect us.

Barbara was born in a suburb of Philadelphia as an only child of an Acme Steel Executive and a retired schoolteacher (her mom quit teaching after she married). They lived near Philly until Barbara's sophomore year in high school when they bought and moved to a home built in the 1700's on eight acres in the country in Buck's County, PA. 

On one side of their home were Mennonites and on the other side was an Amish family. Both families were hard working and dedicated to their beliefs in God and country. The week in the spring of the year that they moved into their new home, it just happened was cheerleading tryouts were going on at what was to be her new school. She gave it a shot and made the squad. She had then, and has now, a very outgoing "A" personality and found it easy to make new friends. She was a leader, and people gravitated to her.

The school was divided into sections reflecting your future career direction and hers was toward academic studies. They went to school from 6 AM until 1 PM due to their being in a farming community. The schoolchildren needed to be back at the farm to help out.

Having outstanding grades, Barbara elected to attend Green Mountain College for Women in Poultney, Vermont where she majored in a medical lab tech career. After graduation, she had her first career opportunity with United States Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. She walked in and took a hiring exam, scored exceptionally high, and was hired as Administrative Assistant to the Directors of Personal and Organizational Planning.

She remembers when the Arch was completed in St Louis. The steel company sent her, with other execs, to represent the company at the dedication. She loved working there, and was quickly promoted. One day her parents asked her to travel with them to Europe, so she took a leave from work and headed overseas.

They toured England, Switzerland and Germany. When it was time to go home, she decided to stay another month and continue the adventure. (Over the years she's traveled all over the world seeing nearly every country with few exceptions.) It was an adventure she still talks about. Then, back to work. 

The night President Kennedy died she was scheduled to attend a political event. Instead, she attended another function at a friend's home. The gentleman who opened the door at the home where the event was being held asked her for a date before the evening ended. Months later, he proposed. A year later they married. 

After getting married, he got transferred to Philadelphia. She happily was able to transfer her job. It was there that her first son Michael, now a stockbroker in Los Angeles and a cancer survivor, was born. On the day Mike was born, her husband Jerry told her he was being transferred to Atlanta. They moved there. 

Jerry was on the road five days a week, so she found herself getting involved in numerous community organizations, such as being on the Board of Directors for Georgia Federation of Woman's Clubs; Children's United Research Efforts; Founder and President of Children's Oncology Services; Co-founder and President of the Ronald McDonald House; Young Matrons Circle of Tallulah Falls School, 1st Vice President; Board of Trustees of Metro North Youth Soccer Association, and others.

In June of 1979 she moved on and until October of 1981, Barbara served as Director of Sales for Sheraton by The Sea, a 179-room resort on Jekyll Island. In her next to last year with them – 1980 -- she was responsible for increasing group business 32% above forecast.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, David, their second son, was born. Sadly, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and not expected to live. At that time, Barbara was asked by McDonald's representatives to see if she could help raise money for research. It became a project that she entered into with heart and soul.

She became involved in the Ronald McDonald House project. She met with the Atlanta Falcons owners and players, as well as with the Chicago Bears team. At that time, in order to set up a House, an NFL team had to be involved. Barbara rounded up major players in the area and they took on the task. Barbara showed me photos from one of the Atlanta Falcon games where she was receiving a check from the team out on the field at the end of halftime. She told me of another game where she was called out at halftime and handed a check for $52,000. 

Since living in Orange Beach, Barbara's resume' includes being on the National Advisory Council for the Ronald McDonald Houses in a nationwide position for establishing new Ronald Houses in cities such as Miami, Dallas, Houston, Gainesville, Columbia and Birmingham.

Part of her job description required that she do a lot of traveling.   Booking conventions required that she travel all over the US. From October of 1981 to January 1983 Barbara served as Marketing Manager for Southern Sites, Inc. This firm represented 22 Southeastern and Southwestern 4 and 5 Star resort and conference facilities.

Barbara's contacts within the Atlanta Corporate market provided the customer base for booking meetings and conventions into the 22 resorts. She was responsible for establishing industry-specific vertical markets for the Southern Sites staff to maximize corporate marketing plans and penetration of the customer base.

In 1983 Barbara was Vice President of Leasing for Kern and Company in Atlanta, overseeing the office division for a major Commercial developer. Barbara's responsibilities included the leasing and marketing for approximately 1,000,000 square feet of office space. Her affiliation with Kern since January 1983 allowed her the opportunity to handle all contacts with corporate decision makers and to be responsible for all relations with the tenants and coordination of new office construction and design.

Barbara stayed married for 19 years. She had three beautiful sons, Michael, David and Chris. She has two grandsons and two granddaughters. After Jerry told her he wanted a divorce, she went to work that morning and cried.

Right about then the Senior Vice President, Tilden Walters, walked in the door, saw her crying, told her to get her purse and took her to a restaurant. He told her to take a paper and pen, and write down what she felt she could do on her own and what she wanted to walk away with from the relationship.

They became friends, started dating a few years later and six years later married. They honeymooned in Gulf Shores, loved it there, and started vacationing in this area. 

They had a condo in Destin but during one vacation it was rented so they came back over here. Staying at the Wind Drift, they woke up to the sun bathing Ono Island and loved the idea of living on an Island.  They made an offer on a lot on the island, which was accepted. She designed a house and they left their jobs and moved down. She went to work for Sun South, and continued working for Colonial Properties. 

As an employee of Colonial Properties since June 1989, Barbara handles all leasing, property management and tenant relations for the center's owners. From 1990 to 1992 she worked as a sales agent with Sun South Realty. In 1992 she was offered the position of General Manager of the Island House Hotel. Meeting all expectations, she still holds that position in 2015. She proudly showed me documentation indicating that she was just appointed to the National Association of Professional women in New York.

I asked how she happened to be offered the job of General Manager of the Island House.

She told me that when she was working with Sun South, Bill Mitchell, owner of Stewart Construction, used to stop by the office to talk to the owners of Sun South. Barbara was introduced to him and they became friends. A short time later she had an unexpected visit from the Mitchells, who wanted to talk with her. They told her they were going to build a hotel and wanted her to run it. After a few more interviews, she became the General Manager. That was 1993. She's still the General Manager and they're doing very well.

There are plans next year for remodeling the lower level of the hotel and they expect to make it even better. Her resume' of local civic and community affiliations fills a page of single spaced information: Member of Ono Island Ladies Club, Mayor's task force, Board of  Directors of the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Business and Professional Women's Club are just a few. She is one of the original founders and directors of the Convention and Visitors' Bureau (now known as Gulf Shores Orange Beach Tourism).

The Island is so fortunate to have a woman like Barbara living here. She is an asset to anything and everything she becomes involved in. I am honored to have her for a friend.