Click to enlarge Dr. E. Truman Wester

BY JERRIE WHITELEY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Dr. E. Truman Wester, a 90-year-old former president of Grayson County College and noted civic activist died after a battle with cancer.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at the First Baptist Church in Denison, with Rev. Mark Mitchell officiating. Eulogies will be delivered by Dr. Mack Broiles and Jim Cragg.

Dr. Wester played tennis at least once a week until the last two weeks of his life. At one point, he was ranked number one in Texas in singles and doubles for the men's 75-year-old age group.

"He loved to play tennis as much as anyone I ever saw," said Bill Ashburn, a member of the foursome Dr. Wester played with once a week for 35 years.

Ashburn and the two other members of that foursome, Dr. Wayne Delaney and Jack Lilley, said they lost more than a tennis date; they lost a good friend.

"He was one of the nicest people you wanted to meet. He enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest," Delaney said. "We all played tennis and joked and gave each other a hard time all of the time. He will be missed."

The four last played together a week ago Monday, and Lilley said Dr. Wester was planning to play again.

"He told Dr. Delaney to get a sub for him, but not to make it a permanent one," Lilley said. Dr. Wester told the three he would come back and play with them again even if he had to do so with a colostomy bag.

That determination was something the trio, now each in their 70s, had learned to expect from their friend.

"It took a lot of guts and courage, but that was his attitude. The last three or four years, he played with a knee brace and it was difficult, but it was his wish to die on the court," Lilley said.

The three remembered him as someone who did everything he did with gusto and enthusiasm.

"He was the kind of person, when he would go hunting ... some people go early in the morning and then come back in the afternoon ... he would go until he couldn't see to hunt anymore," Delaney said.

Of course, they all said, Dr. Wester's game wasn't what it had once been, but his heart for the game never gave way.

"Because of his knee ... he couldn't run anymore, and tennis is a running game," Ashburn said.

Ashburn said to make up for the lack of a running game, Dr. Wester would set himself up in the space between the service line and the back line, a place called "No man's land" and return shots from there.

He also developed a habit of prognosticating his own wins.

Ashburn said Dr. Wester would tell opponents, "May the best team win, and I am sure we will."

"He was always full of conversation and he never lacked for words," Lilley teased.

That conversation could range far and wide as Dr. Wester discussed topics from education to civic responsibilities to the sporting events or national news.

Dr. Wester joined the Grayson County College administration in 1967 as vice president for academic affairs. Upon the retirement of founding president Dr. Cruce Stark, he became the school's second president in 1972. He served that office until 1982, when much of the West Campus of the college (formerly part of Perrin Air Force Base) was under development.

Following his retirement, he was named President Emeritus of the college. In 2000, he was named a distinguished alumnus of Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant.

"Dr. Wester provided strong leadership to the college from 1972 to 1982 and helped develop many outstanding programs utilizing our West Campus facilities," said GCC President Alan Scheibmeir in an e-mail to staff.

"During the last several years, he actively assisted the college with the bond campaign for new facilities and he established a large scholarship in honor of his family and garnered significant support for scholarships honoring others in our community," Scheibmeir continued. "We will miss his jovial voice and his delightful sense of humor."

Dr. Wester played tennis in high school and served as a college tennis coach. When not on the court, he could be found teaching someone somewhere.

"He taught Sunday school at First Baptist in Denison," Delaney said, up until the last week of his life.

Dr. Wester also gave his time to community and civic events and organizations including his beloved Denison Lions Club.

"He will be sorely missed," said Tom Redwine, past president of the Denison Lions.

Dr. Wester was past district governor for Texas Lions, and Redwine said he was always a positive voice at club meetings. Other Lions explained that Dr. Wester made a particular point each year to take visiting international students sponsored by Lions Clubs around the globe under his wing as he would take the youth for a whole day to the Four Seasons Club and share his beloved tennis with them. Often, a few of those students would come back to the club astonished after having been beat by a man many decades their elder.

Dr. Wester spent 51 years as a teacher and an administrator at several educational institutions including the University of Oklahoma, the University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Holdenville Public Schools and Junior College, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Russell High School in Durant, Okla., and Grayson County College.

He also served in a number of civic and church groups, many times as president, including Public School Board of Edmond, Okla.; Kiwanis Club of Edmond, Okla.; Lions Club of Denison; Library Board of Denison; United Way of Grayson County; Texoma Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Texoma Regional Blood Center; Goodwill Industries of Northeast Texas; United Way of Denison; and Grayson County Retired School Personnel Association. He was the founding president of the Texoma Regional Blood Center and was named director emeritus after 25 years of service.

He is survived by wife, Ruth; daughters Glenna Causey of Ada, Okla., Nancy Alley of Denison and Jana Crew of Oklahoma City, Okla.; sister Sondra Bonds of Yukon, Okla., and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.