Person of the Year 2018 - Casey Kebach
Casey Kebach was born March 29, 1951 in Kadoka, South Dakota. He grew up in the Pierre area, graduating from T.F. Riggs High School in 1969. Casey attended Black Hills State for a couple of years. He began his electrical career on March 15, 1973, as an apprentice electrician for Ferding (Fjerdingo) Electric – the young man that bought the electrical business, Scott Jacobsen, is a very hardworking, honest person. One way he has continued to show his respect for Mr. Ferding is by keeping the business name, “Ferding Electric.” As he noted in a letter to Mr. Ferding’s family a few years ago, “little did I know at that time, I was working for one of the most respected people in the electrical industry in South Dakota.
Being a young person, I thought I knew everything there was to know. Slowly, Mr. Ferding taught me, and a lot of other young people, we didn’t know half of what we thought we knew.” It was under his guiding hands, that he eventually became one of the State’s Electrical Inspectors. At one time there were more State Inspectors that came out of his shop, then any other shop in South Dakota. His name is very well known all over this state. It stands for honesty, integrity and a job well done.
Casey attended a night school put on by the South Dakota Independent Electrical Contractors’ Association and completed the course of study during his apprenticeship years through 1973 to 1977, two months after receiving verification of his hours, Casey took and passed his Journeyman’s test, then received his license. In 1988, Casey became employed as a Journeyman electrician for the State of South Dakota. Beginning in March of 2000 he was hired as a part-time State Electrical Inspector and became a full-time State Electrical Inspector in January of 2001. Just this past year, Casey received his twenty-five-year membership certificate from the International Association of Electrical Inspectors.
Casey and Mary have been married for 44 years and have four daughters, Julie (Jeff) Kebach-Jackson, Brookings; Brandi (Shane) Jackson, Platte City, Missouri; Lyndi (Chad) Bierman, Indianola, Iowa; and, Kari Kebach, Longmont, Colorado. And they have been blessed with six grandchildren: Jake, Elyse, Evelyn, Eli, Will and Nate. Casey and Mary are both retired and have a little place just north of Pierre – both enjoy fishing and the country-way of living.