We are men who lead, serve, protect and defend, whether we are giving out Coats for Kids, donating wheelchairs, lending a helping hand in disaster relief efforts, supporting local pregnancy centers or providing top-quality financial products.
Joe Simecek was born and raised in Austin, Texas and graduated with a
bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas
at Austin in December 1974. Joe and his loving wife Eva have been
married for 48 years and have lived in Duncanville and been members of
Holy Spirit for almost all of that time. They were blessed with two children
named Stephanie and Andrew. Eva was involved in all parts of the Liturgy
including music as Choir Director at the 8:30 Mass for many years in the
early history of Holy Spirit. You might run into Stephanie if you need some
imaging work at Methodist Midlothian Hospital. You might see Andrew at
Ace Hardware if you are looking for custom window glass cut or a new
window screen made.
Joe was employed by Texas Power & Light Co. and subsequent company
reorganizations in the Dallas office for almost 30 years starting as a project
engineer, then in various positions supporting the company’s environmental
compliance activities at power plants and transmission / distribution
locations and technical support for the company owned dams. After leaving
the company in 2004, he continued to work part-time in support of company
activities as a contractor until 2016. Joe is a registered Professional
Engineer in Texas and a life member of the American Society of Civil
Engineers.
In 2010, Joe was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease resulting in a
difficult everyday life. After being on the approved kidney transplant list for
almost 6 years, the long prayed for “God Push” occurred and Joe was
blessed to receive a transplanted kidney in 2020 from a deceased donor
and to enjoy a second life. Not to be outdone, Joe’s wife Eva was blessed
to receive a liver transplant after being sick for a long time. Joe
encourages his brother Knights to consider advance designation on their
driver’s license as an organ donor. The statistics are staggering. There
are approximately 100,000 people on the approved kidney transplant list in
the US that have completed extensive medical testing to prove suitability.
Unfortunately, approximately 12 of these people pass away each and every
day waiting for a kidney transplant. There are just too few people who give
organ donation serious consideration.
So far, Joe has “hit the ground running” asking to help out at the last 3 fish
fry events this Lenton season before being exemplified as an official ‘
“newbie” Knight.
