Towler recalls days overseeing hospital

Working and helping others in the community has become a full-circle experience for Farmville resident James Benjamin “J.B.” Towler.

Towler, who served as the administrator at Southside Community Hospital from 1970-84, recently became a volunteer at the hospital, helping visitors and patients find their way around, hoping to diminish the dread and anxiety of being in a hospital.

It’s something Towler has lots of experience with.

Because of his leadership, the hospital gained accreditation and shed its deficit after he became acting administrator in the late 1960s.

On Jan. 15, 1970, The Herald reported that “Southside Community Hospital last week was notified that it had won accreditation for a new three-year period by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.”

Just one year before that, one of the lead stories in the paper was the hospital’s becoming a million-dollar plus institution.

“Southside Community Hospital has become a million-dollar plus annual operating institution, but it is currently operating in that new financial level without a deficit,” The Herald reported.

After retiring from Southside and having worked with numerous other hospitals, Towler finds volunteering satisfying.

“I think Southside is in better shape than it ever has been,” he said.

Tom Angelo, the hospital’s CEO, said Towler is a “wonderful addition to our volunteer team. Having served as CEO of the hospital, he brings a wealth of experience at all levels, including safety and customer service. J.B. has an abundance of energy and he has interesting accounts of his time as the CEO of the hospital. He loves serving his community and has done it all of his life.”

The 84-year-old man has always found it satisfying to help others.

In 1949, after attending school in Darlington Heights and in Charlotte County, Towler joined the Army where he fought in Korea. He was wounded more than once while in service.

He was discharged in 1952 as an Army corporal.

“Most of it,” Towler said of his enjoyment of the service. “It was hell. In Korea, it was 18 below zero.”

The Darlington Heights native would come back to Farmville working for Kilcare Laundry and driving a laundry truck. He would later work for Newman Chevrolet. After working there, he decided to start his own business — a collection agency and credit repair bureau.

“He had the president of the board of the hospital, Curtis Hubbard, and the administrator, Earl Willis (there),” he said of a meeting arranged by former then-Mayor W.C. Fitzpatrick.

Willis happened to be Towler’s customer in his days working at the laundromat.

“They made me an offer,” he said regarding his hiring as credit manager at the hospital.

Towler was later named business manager, where he oversaw the establishment of the hospital’s first licensed practical nursing school.

During a meeting with Armstrong Smith, then-president of the hospital board, he told Towler, “‘We’re going to have to depend on you. …’”

That’s when he was named acting administrator in March 1968.

“You’re doggone right it did,” he said of being proud of his appointment. He told them he’d try it for one year and see how it went.

Towler would be named administrator in 1970 and would serve for 14 years, overseeing growth and progress.

After his tenure at the hospital Towler worked as a consultant with 13 hospitals in the Roanoke Carilion Health System.

The retired hospital administrator has been volunteering at Centra Southside for just over one year now.

“There are still people (here) I hired,” Towler said. “My success was my people. I’d get the best people I could get.”

“J.B. is a great volunteer,” said hospital spokeswoman Kerry Mossler. “He always has a smile on his face and is willing to help anyone. He is a walking history book of the hospital; we never tire of his stories.”

Mossler said that Towler constantly brings Herald articles in to show the hospital staff.

“He has seen a lot of good changes. We are lucky to have him serving our community. …”