23. Jorge Ruiz

You might not know that Jorge often wore a cycling helmet years ago. He was a serious rider, traversing hundreds of miles on weekends. These days, we know him as a brother Knight who gladly wore many hats – Chancellor, Deputy Grand Knight, director of our awareness committee, overseeing the council’s Safe Environment program and disaster preparedness and eventually taking the role of Grand Knight. Somehow during his tenure as Grand Knight, Jorge was able to navigate through the pandemic crisis because of his knowledge of the wonders of the internet and his skills with our website. Soon after joining our council in 2012 Jorge designed and instituted our current website over a few months, much to the delight of all members of the Council. Without his technical know-how and spirited commitment to plow through the COVID -19 pandemic, this Council would have floundered like many other Councils. He developed an innovative way to serve our church parish during Lenten season by introducing online sales and drive-thru fish fry pick up. In reality, our Council served just about as many meals as we would have had there been no pandemic. During the pandemic lockdowns and with the assistance of Dan Murphy, Jorge recorded our church’s first virtual mass with Fr. Eugene Okoli and later directed the recording of the Stations of the Cross with Deacon Al Evans and broadcasted them on YouTube for the benefit of all parishioners. Jorge continued the monthly meetings virtually thru the GoToMeeeting app without a hitch. The COVID lockdowns led many to feel financial pressure and in response Jorge created the Knight In Need Fund to enable donations to go towards helping brothers in need.

Jorge is a man of high principle and unbreakable will to do what is right. Jorge joined the council in July 2012, took his major degrees the following May and later added membership in the Fourth Degree. Jorge is a native of Ecuador. He and wife Kathie were married in New York, where Jorge attended the New York School of Printing, and made their way to Texas in 1981. They have three grown children. After a successful 30 year career in the printing industry Jorge now operates his own web marketing and graphic design business and also created and oversees the Dallas Diocese Chapter website. Kathie is a Psychotherapist and they both work out of their home in Duncanville.