Utah State Knights of Columbus 2021 Knight of the Year: John Valdez

Courtesy photo/Utah Knights of Columbus

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John Valdez, 2021 Utah Knight of the Year

OGDEN — John Valdez, Utah Knight of the Year for 2021, has a long history with the Knights of Columbus and within service organizations in the Catholic Church.

Valdez, originally from Laredo, Texas, became an altar server there at the age of 9 and became a Knight Commander for the Knights of the Altar at age 11. After his family moved to Ogden, he continued as an altar server for four more years. He was also a member of the parish’s Young Catholic Students organization and attended religious education there. Later, he became an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

While on active duty in the Army in Panama from 1979 to 1982, he was a Marriage Encounter team member and coordinator for the country. In Utah, he has also served as a lector at St. James the Just and Holy Family parishes. In 2018, he was commissioned as a lay ecclesial minister by Bishop Oscar A. Solis and assigned to St. James the Just Parish. In addition, he is part of the ACTS (Adoration, Community, Theology & Service) Ministry and has helped present three retreats at St. James the Just and St. John the Baptist parishes. Since 2019, he has served as a St. James the Just Parish Council member.

Professionally, Valdez served in the Army from 1968 to 1993, retiring as a chief warrant officer. From 1973 to 1997, he served as an Ogden police officer and as a military police officer in the U.S. Army Reserves. He worked as a Weber County Sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Narcotics Strike Force and Sheriff’s Office training bureau from 1998 to 2006. This month he will retire from a position of court liaison to Ogden City Justice Court, which he has held since 2007.

Service has always been important to Valdez, who has been a Knight of Columbus for 18 years.

“I felt it was important to make a ‘statement by membership,’” he said. “That’s where I could show my support and also further assist in the programs that we do within the parish as well as statewide and be useful. We’re called to serve in so many ways and this opportunity presented itself back then and I decided ‘Yes, why not.’”

Valdez has been very involved in the Knights of Columbus. Since 2012, he has coordinated the northern Utah Coats for Kids program with Catholic Community Services.

“To see the joy in their eyes, the smile on their faces and the sigh of relief from their parents knowing that the child was not going to be freezing that winter” makes the effort worthwhile, he said.

 He has also participated in annual Right to Life programs and in the Special Olympics program at Weber State University, and is coordinating the Utah State Council Vocation RSVP and Faith programs.

Over the past year when churches were closed because of the pandemic, Valdez worked with Fr. Rene Rodillas (now deceased), pastor of St. James the Just Parish, to produce a weekly social media broadcast of the Sunday Mass. With the other Knights of the parish, he helped implement safety procedures that allowed parish members to return to worship in person.

“We arrived early, set up for Mass (our parish does not have an active deacon), physically signed in everyone, ensured COVID-19 protocols were maintained,” Valdez said. “We ushered, were lectors and Eucharistic ministers as needed. We served in this capacity every weekend for 13 months. If you put that into man hours, that would be about 420 hours for each of us at a minimum.”

During that time, Valdez became especially close to Fr. Rodillas, as they worked side by side. After Fr. Rodillas passed away from COVID-19, Valdez notified the civil and Church authorities and made all the arrangements for the priest’s vigil and funeral. He also helped coordinate sanitation efforts in the parish buildings and helped with the transition for Fr. Eleazar Silva, who is currently serving at the parish.

“I am very humbled and honored,” Valdez said of being named Utah Knight of the Year. “I hope that as a result [of the award] that others who are members of the Knights of Columbus realize if you humble yourself and become that servant that the Lord calls us to be, like he was to us, you can get that recognition.”