"It was an easy decision," Club Member Nancy Currie said. "First and foremost, the hurricane was still in our minds and everyone was still recovering at that time. We knew how hard Oscar worked after the storm. His business was destroyed and he had lost his home in a fire."
"I'm flabbergasted. It's just beyond me," Ortiz said of receiving the award. "I am deeply honored and moved they would pick me. For the first time in my life, I'm speechless."
A Port Arthur native, Ortiz is the youngest of eight children and grew up on the west side of town during the depression era. His father and older brothers would leave the family to work in cotton fields while his mother did ironing and cleaned houses to help support the family.
He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1955 and worked as a laborer at the Port of Port Arthur before joining the U.S. Air Force. While in the military he was a radar specialist and served in Korea.
Ortiz and wife Carol have three children and four grandchildren. He entered the business world in 1982 when he opened Gingiss Formal Wear at Central Mall. He and his wife now own and operate Tuxedo Junction.
Founded in 1919 as the first international women's service organization, Quota's membership today includes men as well as women in clubs in North America, South America, the South Pacific, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean.
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