by Dr. MaryJane McReynolds, Wortham Ex-Students Association

 

Wortham celebrated its 2020 Homecoming October 7-10th with events and activities that honored returning and current students, as well as two historic milestones for the community and the school district. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Wortham Ex-Students Association, and the 80th anniversary of the historic rock gym and rock wall surrounding Bulldog Field.

The gym and wall surrounding the football field were both completed in 1940 and each have played an integral role in the history and development of the school and its students. And, each have their own unique story to tell.

In August of 1939 the citizens of WISD voted a $6,500 bond to build a gymnasium. The gym was finished the next year, as was the rock wall surrounding the football field, at the cost of $9000. Native sandstone from Tehuacana was used for both and gave them their distinctive finish.

The amount of money and the timing of these construction projects is especially noteworthy. World War II was raging in Europe and the United States was still reeling from the Great Depression.

Government assistance through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a public works program that carried out construction on thousands of public buildings and roads across the nation, made construction of the gym and rock wall possible. The 1941 edition of “The Bark,” the school’s yearbook, claimed that the Bulldog basketball team did not lose a single game played that first season in the new gymnasium.

The gym’s vital role in school operations was not limited to sports. WISD needed a lunchroom for its growing student population, and in 1946 a kitchen was located in the northwest corner of the gym. The school children and faculty entered the gymnasium from the south entrance and were given their lunch through serving windows. Each morning Mr. Quince Cox, WISD custodian, set up tables and chairs on the gym floor for the students and the faculty to eat lunch. Reportedly, high school study hall students hurriedly completed their assignments in order to volunteer to help him. At the end of lunch, the same students would help Mr. Cox take down the tables and chairs. Mr. Cox would mop the floor and have the gymnasium ready for the 2:30 p.m. high school physical education class.

Through the decades the gym was also the site of the annual Homecoming dance, complete with a live orchestra and lavish decorations. The evening began with the crowning of the Homecoming Queen, selected from among ex-students. A promenade by the new Queen, the nominees and their escorts followed. The Homecoming royalty were then honored with the first dance and lively evening of dancing and sharing of high school memories followed.

Times have changed and the orchestra is now a DJ, but the dance and crowning of the Homecoming Queen in the festively-decorated historic gym continues today. Brenda Pursell Chaney, Class of 1980, was selected as the 2020 Homecoming Queen and she and her husband led the first dance, joined by the nominees and prior year’s Homecoming Queens, and the rest of the attendees.

The Wortham Ex-Students Association, founded in 1945, strives to carry out many long-standing Homecoming traditions and activities, while also providing support to WHS graduating seniors in the form of scholarships. The Association was founded 16 ex-students who felt such a loyalty to their school, and they wanted to give back to the school and the Wortham community.

Each year at Homecoming the Association honors returning students at the football game on Friday night and at the Saturday activities. The Association’s meeting on Saturday always features an ex-student as speaker who shares memories and experiences from their days as a Wortham student. This includes humorous and often cringe-worthy anecdotes about the school, their former teachers and classmates. However, the message unfailingly underscores the important role that the Wortham schools played in their life and upbringing.

The historic structures and the Wortham Ex-Students Association endure with their own distinctive and interconnected history. Together they continue to make Wortham Homecoming a remarkable event. See everyone at Homecoming 2021!