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James
Harland (Jim) Wortham
1955-2003
Jim lived most of his life in
Sweetwater,
Texas, and devoted 30 of his 48 years to the renovation and
rejuvenation of the Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium.
He was born in
Bryan,
Texas,
and spent his early years in the shadow of
Texas
A&M University’s Kyle Field. He later attended The University
of Texas.
Jim grew up in Sweetwater. At Sweetwater High School, he
excelled in photo-journalism with the school’s award-winning
newspaper The Pony Express. He played saxophone in the
Big Red Mustang Band, a 250-strong force in its day with a
string of marching-concert-sightreading sweepstakes achievements
that stretched for roughly 25 years. In drama, he was named to
the
Texas
all-star cast for his athletic and dramatic portrayal of Laertes
in the SHS production of “Hamlet” that won runner-up honors at
the State Academic Meet in 1973. Clay Freeman, who played such
a crucial role in the restoration of the Sweetwater Municipal
Auditorium, became SHS drama director when Jim was a junior and
directed the “Hamlet” achievement. Jim’s first painting was a
contemporary rendering of the Apollo 8 “Earth Rise”.
A 1973 graduate of
Sweetwater
High School, Jim attended The University of Texas in
Austin.
Always reaching beyond what others could see and always seeking
to understand broader challenges, Jim studied Chinese language,
culture, and art. Among the tens of thousands of students at
The University of Texas, Jim joined 27 others studying Chinese.
After time at UT, Jim worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
before catching the helicopter back to Sweetwater. Jim worked
at Ludlum Measurements in Sweetwater from 1983 until his death
more than 20 years later. He was a systems integration
technician, working to integrate new production lines,
manufacturing acquisitions, and a burgeoning homeland security
product line into the fabric of a stalwart American manufacturer
headquartered in Sweetwater since the early 1960s.
Jim joined Clay Freeman in 1975 in exploring the forgotten
Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium. From their efforts and those
of the talented and dedicated performers in the Horizon Theater
summer productions, the vision of restoring the Municipal
Auditorium was born.
From those first productions, Jim was a central figure in
virtually every production in the Auditorium for the next 30
years. To the recollection of most, the only show he ever
missed was the 2003 “America” reunion concert that took place
just days before he passed away. Jim instigated and starred in
most productions of the Sweetwater Little Theater, which was
most active in the 1980s. He performed in the Sweetwater
Municipal Band, which was revived in the 1990s and continues as
the principal tenant of the Auditorium. For community events
and traveling shows performing at the Auditorium, Jim was the
often-unseen leader of a dedicated team of light, sound, and
stagecraft technicians who have volunteered their time for
decades to make every event special to its performers and its
audience.
Jim and his wife, Ann, were restoring an early 1900s home in
Sweetwater. Jim was a member of the First Christian Church,
where Ann has been a long-time active member of the
congregation. He enjoyed and inspired an extended family who
loved him. He treasured the company of his wife, children, and
grandchildren, and encouraged their music, their art, and their
creativity.
Jim was an artist, an actor, a technician, a strategist. He was
also a beloved husband, son, brother, father, and friend to an
extended family of those who shared his too-short life. We all
miss him.
His legacy inspires us to renew our commitment to the vision
that he laid out for us for the revitalization of the Sweetwater
Municipal Auditorium. We hope you will join us. We have work
left to be done.
If you wish to make contributions, please mail to
Sweetwater Municipal Auditorium, P.O. Box 584,
Sweetwater, Texas 79556 |
