Virgil A. Wortman (83) of Effingham

Virgil A. Wortman, 83 of Effingham, passed away at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 9 at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Effingham with burial in St. Anthony Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday evening at the church. Memorial donations may be made to St. Anthony Schools.

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Virgil was born February 12, 1934 in the community of Boulder, Illinois, in the same house that his grandparents lived, in the same room where his father was born. He was the son of Robert B. and Bonnie (Bopp) Wortman. He married Mary E. “Betty” Walker on July 19, 1958 and she survives. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957 with a degree in civil engineering. Virgil moved to Effingham in 1961. In Effingham, he worked for Mautz and Oren, and later for Moritz Corporation where he managed large construction projects such as water and sewage plants, bridges and highways, the Bloomington Dam, the interstate tri-levels north of Effingham, the Effingham Community Pool and more. Virgil had a great spirit for life and loved being around family and fiends. He dearly loved his 9 kids, 21 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. In 1970, he moved his family to a 62-acre farm west of Effingham where he raised them in the house he remodeled. He encouraged his kids, grandkids and friends to partake in many activities such as basketball games in the full court basketball court in the barn loft, baseball games on the baseball diamond he built, ice skating, sled riding, horse riding, 4 wheeling, fishing, hunting, kayaking, night hiking, washer throwing, swimming in his swimming pool and parties with lots of family and friends. He also liked to have country music playing. Virgil was an avid University of Illinois basketball and football fan. He converted the downstairs of the barn into a party room decorated in University of Illinois orange and blue. Many U of I football and basketball games were passionately watched on his big screen TV in the barn. Virgil was a handyman who could fix anything. Any time anyone in the family needed his services, he would show up in his white truck, tool box in hand, whistling all the way to the door. He will be dearly missed by his family.

Virgil is survived by his wife, Betty and eight children, sons, Rob (Teri), Del, John (Lisa) and Dan (Julie), Laura, all of Effingham, Matt (Stacie) of Teutopolis, David (Naty) of Springfield and Levi of Effingham; sister, Darlene Vaughn of Rantoul; 21 grandchildren, James, Travis, Jesse, Tyler, Trent, Mitchell, Elizabeth, Jackie, Katie, Nick, Sarah, Sam, Emily, Rachel, Claire, Zach, Will, Salome, Alaric, Abagail and Oliver; two great-grandchildren, Risher and Rowin.

Virgil was preceded in death by his parents; son, Ted; father-in-law, Glen Walker; mother-in-law, Pauline Walker and brother-in-law, Robert Vaughn.