In his 14 years with the local branch of the American Red Cross, seven as director of response, he found alternative housing for hundreds of people who lost their homes and possessions to fire.

He's also reconnected servicemen and women with their relatives in times of family crises. Now, at age 50 and armed with his master's degree in social work, he's moving on to repairing families in the Child Guidance Center here as a social worker.

But as he sheds the unpredictable schedule of responding to emergencies for his new job, he's not forgetting his roots.

At a party in his honor at the branch on Brooklawn Avenue last week, he recalled the personal family crisis 15 years ago that drew him to the Red Cross.

His brother, a U.S. Army paratrooper, got lost in an American desert where he was training, but found his unit again. He was sent to a military hospital, where the Puerto Rican chapter of the Red Cross found him.

He was reunited with his father.

"Thanks to the Red Cross, he was able to communicate" with the family, Jimenez recalled.

In 1993, Jimenez joined the board of directors of the Southeastern Fairfield County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and was later hired to oversee and coordinate responses to disasters such as house fires.

"It's tough, especially when you have those families you relocate and there's no other safety net for them," said Jimenez, a city resident for 25 years.

And although the party was for him, he credited others, including the volunteers who also jumped into action at odd hours to help victims of house fires.

"I'm so pleased with the volunteers," he said.

Sometimes, he had as many as 70 volunteers to manage, said his former boss, Dianne Auger, executive director of the Red Cross branch for eight years.

As Jimenez stood in the foyer of the chapter last week, Bridgeport Fire Chief Brian Rooney, Fairfield Fire Chief Richard Felner and Scott Appleby, Bridgeport's emergency management director, praised him.

"I can remember him coming out in snowstorms. He'd be there with a smile on his face," said Rooney, who has 35 years with the Fire Department. "He's a great guy and we're going to miss him terribly."

Felner, who became a firefighter in 1959, also had kind words.

"You need anything, let us know," Felner told Jimenez, shaking his hand. "You'll be missed."

In addition to praise, Jimenez was feted with an acoustic guitar spoof of "La Bamba."

Jimenez said he'll still volunteer for the branch, but wasn't sure in what capacity.

Auger said she appreciates everything he does for the chapter.

"We will miss Ramon's smiling face, compassion and his dedication to the Red Cross and to the people he has helped us to serve," she said.

And for the first time in years, he got to catch up with his personal life despite a fire on Horace Street that left several people homeless last weekend.

"After eight years, I deserve a break," he joked.

Aaron Leo, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6222.