William James Wooten

William James Wooten, known affectionately as Jimmy, W.J., Jim, and Papa Jim, died peacefully August 19th at the age of 92. He was the fifth and last child born to E. Oliver Wooten and Connie Harris Wooten on June 20, 1924, in Abilene, Texas. He was pre-deceased by his parents, his wife of 58 years Lou Ellen Bryan Wooten, two sisters Connie Catherine of Abilene and Roberta Wooten Bramlette of Houston, and two brothers, Harris Wooten and Don Wooten, both of Abilene.

When Jim was two years old his father died and H.O. Wooten, his grandfather was appointed guardian. H.O. was a prominent Abilene business and civic leader and was an important and lasting influence in Jim’s life.

In the early 1930’s, after losing her husband and two children, Jim’s mother Connie moved him and Don from Abilene to Dallas to be close to his sister, Roberta, who was attending SMU. Jim went to Bradfield Elementary and Highland Park Junior and Senior High School. It was at Bradfield Elementary that he met his lifelong close friend, Bill Wiggins. Both loved the outdoors and Jim often told stories of the two of them fishing Coon Creek and riding bicycles, with shotguns in tow, to hunt dove on land now known as Preston Center. In 1938, at age 14, his picture was in the Dallas Morning News for winning the fish casting tournament at Fair Park.

Following his high school graduation in 1941, he entered the University of Texas and joined the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. In December, Pearl Harbor was bombed and in June 1942, at age 18, he joined the U. S. Navy as an aviation cadet. He flew the Corsair and F7F Tigercat and received his wings and Marine Corps commission in January 1944 at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. His Fighter Squadrons, VMF911 and VMF312, were stationed in North Carolina, California, and Okinawa. Jim was scheduled for Okinawa when the war ended. Although he never saw action, the experiences and memories from these years never left him.

After being released by the Marines in 1946, he returned to the University of Texas and soon met Lou Ellen Bryan of Seguin. They were married within five months. Following his graduation in 1949, Jim joined Magnolia Petroleum Company as a Landman. During this time, he and Lou lived in Portales, NM; Shreveport, LA; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and finally arriving in Houston, Texas in 1955. In 1957, Jim left Magnolia and joined Texas Gas Exploration Corp as Manager of its Land Department. He went on to become Vice President of Exploration, Executive Vice President and finally President in 1971, an office he held for 11 years before retiring in 1982. He was also a Director of the parent company, Texas Gas Transmission Corporation.

After leaving Texas Gas, Jim served as a Petroleum Consultant for a number of exploration and production companies in the United States and Canada. He was on the Board of Directors of Dekalb Energy Company, Houston Oil Fields, and Texas Commerce Bank - Tanglewood. He was a member of the Executives Association of Houston and its President in 1992. For many years he was active in various trade associations, including Mid-Continental Oil and Gas, Ocean Industry, American Petroleum Institute and the American Association of Petroleum Landmen, in which he was a charter member. He was a member and past president of the Houston Country Club and held memberships in the Houston Club, the Ramada Club, the Houston Petroleum Club, where he was a Director. He also served as a Director on several Houston-area civic organizations including Young Life and the Alley Theater.

Upon their arrival in Houston in 1955, Lou and Jim joined the newly formed St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. He and Lou were very active members and he was twice elected to the Vestry and served as both Junior and Senior Warden. Jim particularly enjoyed his 26-year involvement in Post Oak Little League as a Manager, Coach, and enthusiastic Parent. He frequently joked about his lack of winning championships, but as he liked to say, “…everyone played; we had good parents, good kids, and a good time.” Papa Jim loved the Texas Longhorns, bass fishing, dove and quail hunting, and golf. Before children, it was rumored he carried a 2 handicap at Champions Golf Club.

In 1989, after almost forty years in Houston, Lou and Jim decided to move to the “L&J”, their Caldwell County farm on the San Marcos River. While there, he served on the Vestry of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Seguin, the same church where he and Lou were married fifty years earlier. In February 1995, Lou was diagnosed with brain cancer and for the next 9 years, until her death in 2004, most of Jim’s time was spent caring for the love of his life. Jim rarely left her side during those difficult years and he set an amazing example of what true love means.

At the age of 82 and after attending a reunion at Highland Park High School where they met, Jim married Barbara Lomax Hitzelberger of Dallas on November 25, 2006. They had much in common as her late husband had been a very good friend of Jim’s older brother, Don Wooten. Like Jim, she also had four sons. The connection was immediate and the happiness and love it brought Papa Jim was unmistakable. He felt very blessed and fortunate to have found Barbara at this stage in his life and he loved her dearly.

In addition to his wife Barbara, Jim is survived by his four sons and their families: Bryan James Wooten, wife Sherri and their son Judson; William Harris Wooten, wife Jill and their children Whitney Hinton (husband Jimmy) and William; Timm Wooten, wife Suzanne and their children Timm and James; and James Wilson Wooten, wife Melinda and their children, Robert (wife Jennifer) and Ellen Dixon (husband Max), and three great grandchildren – Leighton and James Hinton and Davey Wooten; and Barbara’s sons and their families.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 10th, at 10:00 am, at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, and a private interment ceremony will be held at St. Martin’s Church in Houston at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758541, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8541, Highland Park Education Foundation, 4201 Grassmere, Dallas, Texas 75205, the Chapel Fund at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 117 Sage Road, Houston, Texas 77056, or a charity of choice.