A retired Ellsworth pharmacist has been selected to serve on the Ellsworth County Medical Center board of directors.

Terry Kepka, former owner/operator of Seitz Drug Company Inc. in downtown Ellsworth, was approved to serve on the hospital board during Monday’s regular meeting of Ellsworth County commissioners. Kepka succeeds Tammy Moore, who resigned recently.

“If there is anything I can do to be a part of the community and to use my experience to help the hospital any way I can, that is my motivation,” Kepka said Monday, in a telephone interview with the Independent-Reporter.

Kepka said people know he has always wanted to give back to the community — whether it be through the retail sector or in the community as a whole.

“This is just an extension of that,” he said.

Kepka came to Ellsworth from Sylvan Grove in 1959, and has lived the majority of that time in Ellsworth, except for his time at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and the opportunity to come back and purchase Seitz Drug.

Kepka graduated in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Kansas. He was the owner/operator of Seitz Drug for 43 years, retiring June 3, 2018.

He served as a pharmacy consultant to ECMC for 18 years. He also served on the Ellsworth County Health Care Foundation board of directors, the J. H, Robbins Memorial Library board of directors, the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and the committee to design the Ellsworth High School Performing Arts Center. Kepka was also involved with the Ellsworth Downtown Streetscape project and renovated the front of Seitz Drug during that time.

Kepka and his wife, Agnes, have three daughters and seven grandchildren.