Testerman was a Brilliant Leader
Posted on Tuesday, October 15th, 2024
Dr. Jack Testerman in 2022
The Love County Health Center Board of Control lost a brilliant chairman in the passing of Dr. Jack Testerman on September 29, 2024.
A professor of management, marketing, statistics, and entrepreneurship, Testerman brought a high level of knowledge to the office.
In failing health the past six months, Testerman conducted the September Board meeting at his home. He was 90 years old.
He had chaired the Board since 2013 and he had served as a member for an amazing 34 years, having first been appointed by the Love County Commissioners on March 1, 1990.
The Love County native held a PhD in statistics from the University of Texas and had taught at the Business Schools of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) and Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant.
“He knew how to run an organization at a very, very high level. He was guiding us with what he was teaching,” said Richard Barker, a fellow Board member.
Barker, prior to appointment to the Board six months ago, had spent his career at the hospital, including 30 years as CEO and Administrator until retiring in 2021.
“Dr. Testerman knew marketing and management and was a whiz in mathematics,” Barker said. “He would run the numbers and we would look at things together. Many times I felt like he knew the answer- he was just letting me find out.”
“Jack taught me how to ask the important questions, and how to think globally about how a hospital can be more than a hospital. It can be a medical education leader and serve community health with a walking trail, social services, and a school nurse. He taught me what the word ‘volunteerism’ meant. He really did.”
Testerman in particular championed the advent of the hospital food pantry, the hospital telecommunications center, and the storm safety system. The latter included two above-ground F4 rated storm shelters, which were credited with saving numerous lives of patients and staff during the April 2024 tornado.
“When we were acquiring property, he knew how to negotiate it, how to move dollars and titles. Once at a Board meeting, he had the insurance adjusters and brokerage firm present their data to the Board on coverage for losses after the tornado, so nothing was left to chance. He stayed on top,” Barker said.
For all his intellectual ability, Testerman was humble, friendly, and possessed of a good sense of humor. “He was a super individual, the nicest person. He had what seemed like a million friends,” said Lena Radde, a Board member since 2013. “Jack was knowledgeable in so many subjects, he did a really good job as chairman.”
Testerman was born December 13, 1933 in Greenville. After high school, he graduated from Murray State College in Tishmingo, then completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Oklahoma State University. In 1957, he earned a Master of Science degree in statistics from OSU.
He worked in research with oil companies until becoming a college professor in 1963. His career continued 40 more years. In retirement, Jack became heavily involved in teaching entrepreneurship to business startups in the Ardmore area as a volunteer with SCORE, the Service Corporation of Retired Executives.
Testerman is survived by his wife, Rosemary, one son, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.