NEWBERRY — Dr. Elmer Eugene “Gene” Epting Jr. has posthumously been awarded the Jake and Mildred Fulmer Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Newberry County Memorial Hospital.
The Fulmer Humanitarian Award is in honor of the Fulmers and their ongoing gift to Newberry County Memorial Hospital. In 2008 the hospital received a bequest from the estate of Jake and Mildred Fulmer.
“The Hospital Board chose several ways to honor this gift. The surgery area of the hospital is named for the couple, the surgery waiting room features memorabilia from the couple’s life. The Board of Trustees also chose to establish the Fulmer Humanitarian of the Year Award in honor of the couple’s generosity,” said Bruce Baldwin, chief executive officer of NCMH. “Our Board of Trustees selects the individuals from our community that represent what Jake and Mildred Fulmer represented in Newberry County. Every year they select an individual and this year they selected someone held in the highest regard.”
Epting was a graduate of Newberry College, and he attended the Medical University of Charleston and his internship was at Greenville General Hospital in the 1960s. Along with Bobby Summer, Epting helped establish the Free Medical Clinic in 2004, where he spent numerous hours working to get the doors opened.
Epting had a family practice with Dr. James Underwood and Dr. John Green, and he practiced medicine at Newberry Hospital for over 30 years.
“For 25 years, Dr. Epting provided physicals for Newberry High School and never charged anything,” said Barry Richardson board of trustees chairperson.
Other honors bestowed upon Epting include the Person of the Year award from the Newberry Jaycees and the Thomas A. Epting Outstanding Alumni Award from Newberry College.
Epting passed away in November of 2016. Dr. Elmer Long, a life long friend of Epting, accepted this award on his behalf.
“Gene and I were good personal friends all of our lives, his family and my family were cousins,” he said. “We were in different practices, but we saw each other on a daily basis. He was a wonderful man, as long as I knew him I never heard him say anything bad about anyone.”
