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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2002)
(lina 21.2002 15 m n rP T n T J n e w s o say that Larry Wortman felt apprehensive back in 1993— when he learned the U.S. Postal Service was transferring him to Dufur— ,JI L would be a major understatement. He was terrified. He was an openly gay man who, after mov ing from the outback of Montana, lived in cities like Seattle, Honolulu, Eugene and Anchorage, Alaska. He had worked his way up the Postal Service corporate ladder, becoming rhe district supervisor for the agency’s employee assistance program based in Portland. But downsizing resulted in most of the positions being cut, and he was offered three different postmaster jobs— all of them in small towns. Dufur, located 14 miles south of The Dalles, was the only one Wortman was even remotely familiar with, he notes with his trademark chuckle. He made the move. “A friend had moved to The Dalles a couple of years earlier,” he says. “I was familiar with it and knew where it was without having to look at a map. Plus I could get away to Portland... fast.” Wortman’s greatest fear, believe it or not, was not how people would react to a gay man. (He had a plan for that.) More than anything, he admits he was afraid he wouldn’t he able to do the job. So when he arrived, he turned to two personal attributes: honesty and humor. “I just told everybody that 1 had no damn idea what I was doing and it was going to be a learning experience for all of us,” he laughs. “1 was upfront and honest about my lack of knowl edge, and 1 found that using that approach worked best.” That method obviously was successful, as Wortman and the residents of Dufur began a nine-year relationship that culminated with a communitywide potluck for him June 9. After 33 years of service to the United States, both in the military and with the Postal Service, he is now a retired man. Looking back on it now, he cannot believe how he grew to love the folks of Dufur. Residents who live there do not have their mail delivered to their homes but instead go to the post office each day to pick it up from their box. That means Wortman had daily contact with many of the 600-plus people who call Dufur home. He got to know them. They got to know him. “We are going to miss Larry so much,” says Nikki Beacham p, a longtime resident of Dufur. “We love him. He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and he did every thing for everybody. He will never be able to be replaced." Wortman is not one to brag about himself, S pecial D elivery Dufur postmaster retires after 33 years of service by Tom Steven son Although Larry Wortman vowed not to hide his sexual orientation, he says no one ever asked • He started a tradition of opening the doors but the folks around Dufur shared several fond before 8 a.m. just so residents could take care of memories: • He used to take mail out to the cars of their postal business before leaving for work. Those type of things are tricks of the trade elderly and disabled people who had a hard time Wortman learned from his father, who was the getting into the post office. postmaster in Gallatin Gateway, Mont. “He • When elderly people would not come in took care of the people, and they took care of and get their mail for a couple of days and had him," he says. “He not told him they would never had an enemy in be gone, he made sure "We are going to miss Lorry the world.” someone checked up on so much. We love him. He is one And although doing them. those nice things might • He would pay the o f the nicest guys you w ill ever have endeared him to postage due out of his the people of Dufur, own pocket for many meet, and he everything there was still the issue of the customers, then for everybody." of his sexuality. It all just leave them a little note. — Nikki Beachamp turned out to ** for naught. • He made sure he Wortman knows for certain that some resi had a huge supply of sugar-free gum for each of the youngsters who came into the post office. dents of Dufur despise gay people, yet he made it a point to treat them with the same respect One Dufur High School student, upon learning he was going to retire, sat down and wrote him as everyone else he came into contact with in a letter saying he always would have a place in his workplace. He made a pact with himself her heart and expressing how much she appreci that he never would hide his sexual orienta tion— he has rainbow license plate covers on ated his constant teasing. d his car, including one that reads, “Friends of Dorothy”— and that, if anyone ever asked, he would be honest. But no one ever did. “To this day 1 have never got into the conversation at work,” Wort man says. Still, he is quick to note that some residents have told him outside the post office that it was no secret. “I’m sure they know,” he adds. “It’s a small town, and people talk. If a few know some thing, everyone knows. But if something would have happened to me— if 1 would have come to work and found the word ‘fag’ spray-painted on the building or something— I truly do believe that most of the people of Dufur would have been just as disgusted as me. Fortunately it didn’t .. .but it was nice to know that people would have sup ported me if it would have.” When Wortman took the job in Dufur, he chose to live in The Dalles, which has a popula tion of more than 10,000. There still was not much of a gay social life, but he says he was for tunate to find a small group of gay friends and an even larger group of gay-friendly people to build a supportive social network. He even played host to a foreign exchange student a few years back, which he called “an incredible experience.” He also has been clean and sober for 27 years (he says he actually first applied for the post office in a “blackout”) and has a long list of friends he has met through recovery. Finally, he also is known for keeping in touch with nearly everyone he ever has met. His circle of friends is large. Many of the folks in Dufur just made it larger. By not trying to be anything but the man he is, Wortman made many friends, as was evident not only at the retirement party, where he received endless gifts and well wishes, but also during the course of the past year as he struggled through some medical and other personal dilemmas. In a period of about 12 months he had an angioplasty, hernia surgery and a burst appendix; his mother passed away; and his con stant companion, his house cat, died after 16 years with him. The people of Dufur, he says, took care of him. “They sent cards, they sent food.. .they just went out of their way to let me know they cared." Now Wortman is ready to travel and enjoy gardening and art projects at home. For many years he promised himself that as soon as he retired he would move back to the city. That, however, is not going to happen. “I’m happy where I’m at,” he says. J H T o m S T E V E N S O N is a Portland free-lance writer and a full-time Portland State University student who can be reached at ruraltom @ yahoo.com . /U.ultnen*ah 'P illa g e /U u ltn en ah 'P illa g e /kulin em a/t “P illa g e /Unltnemak “P illa g e /UullHcmaft “P illa g e /UultncM ak “P illa g e /U u ltn cn ah “P illa g e /tlu ltn c n a k “P illa Le Meitour Gallery ® TiMiO! 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