(WBIR - KNOXVILLE) - Ben Testerman hopes Knoxvillians will remember his dad as a leader who looked out for the city with
care and vision, someone who believed in the ambitious World's Fair project, a man who thought by boosting downtown the rest of the city would follow.
Testerman's father Kyle Testerman, a two-time former mayor, died Saturday at age 80. He'd been in declining health.
Kyle Testerman was mayor from 1972-75, before the 1982 World's Fair. He worked at planning it along with other area leaders. He then served another term as mayor from 1984-87.
Putting the fair in place was among his proudest moments, said Ben Testerman, a businessman and, like his father, a longtime player and leader of the area tennis community. Sadly, he wasn't able to see the full redevelopment of the World's Fair grounds afterward, Ben Testerman told 10News.
The city leader also saw the value of boosting downtown Knoxville, which by the 1970s was beginning to fall on bad times. Many buildings were closing, businesses were leaving, and fewer people were choosing to call it home. The mayor wanted to put in place major developments that would help anchor downtown.
As mayor, Ben Testerman said, "His thought was, as long as you have a thriving downtown, everything else would grow behind it."
Kyle Testerman also had been an attorney and was a former city councilman. He was an avid tennis player. In February, the city dedicated the Kyle C. Testerman Tennis Complex at Tyson Park in his honor.
Besides his son, Kyle Testerman had two daughters, Muffet Testerman Buckner, and Janet Testerman Creswell, with Janet Long Testerman Crossley, who also survives him.
There were times that Ben Testerman wished things could have been different, he said, regarding his father. But in the last few years, wounds healed and the family became even closer.
"My dad is a beautiful story of redemption," he said.
And he added, "He loved us well at the end of his life."
A celebration of life service for Kyle Testerman will be 4 p.m. April 21 at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church.
