Retired Rugby doctor helps others at home and abroad

Sue Sitter/PCT

Dr. Hubert Seiler stands next to Queen Victoria’s dress in the gallery at Rugby’s Prairie Village Museum.

By SUE SITTER

Staff Writer ssitter@thepiercecountytribune.com ive years after retiring from his medical practice in the Rugby area, Dr. Hubert Seiler uses his free time on pursuits ranging from Lewis and Clark to improving the lives of the poor in the U.S. and

abroad.

There’s not usually much free time for Seiler.

Seiler’s a familiar face in the crowd at the Rugby Lions’ Music in the Park, Village Arts events and the Prairie Village Museum, where he serves as president of the board of directors.

One day late in July, Seiler mulled over ways to take advantage of an AARP Community Challenge grant to create an edible park on the museum grounds.

“I haven’t seen the plans,” he said of the proposed park. “I know we’ve been trying to work with some landscape people to figure it out. Some of it would actually be right in front of the museum, so we don’t want trees that are too large to hide the museum behind the trees.”

“The main problem here of course is it apparently has to be done by the end of the year,” Seiler added. “That only gives us a couple of months to get things planted and this is not the best weather for planting things. I don’t know how that’s going to work.”

Seiler said his interest in history goes “way back.”

“I liked history in high school but I hated it in college,” Seiler said. “I’ve been interested in the railroads most of my life. I belong to the Great Northern Railway Historical Society and we have regular meetings. We’ll have a meeting in the Midwest one year and the West Coast the next year.”

Seiler added, “I’ve also become interested in Lewis and Clark. I’ve got a bunch of books about them. And I started going to the historical society meetings here in Rugby and eventually, they asked me to be on the board. Then, I’ve been variously involved in projects out here.”

“I was never really a farmer but I’m interested in agricultural history stuff, so that’s another area I’m somewhat interested in and some of my projects have had to do with that,” Seiler said.

Seiler said he’s grateful for the number of volunteers who visit the museum grounds to clean and maintain exhibits or work at museum events.

“Unfortunately, we have different people who have different interests. The goal is to bring them together,” Seiler said. “We have a lot of space, so we have a lot of buildings that have been on this property for up to 50 years and some of them were old when they were put on this property.”

“We wouldn’t survive without the volunteers,” Seiler said. “For years, I was and still am one of those volunteers. I keep trying.”

“My problem is I’m involved in so many things,” Seiler added. “That doesn’t even include my international stuff.”

“I’m on an international board called Friends of Chimbo-

te. We have a mission presence in Chimbote, Peru,” Seiler said. “We provide food, shelter, clothing and water for the poor in Chimbote, which is a big city, but it’s really poor.” “All the neighborhoods are poor and COVID has devastated them,” Seiler noted. “We lost some of our employees.” “The priest that founded it was a priest temporarily in Rugby for two months,” Seiler said. “He was in seminary when I was in college. I went to St. John’s University in abroad. Minnesota, a small Catholic college. He was in the seminary there and his brother was in my class at St. John’s. I had a cousin there in the seminary at the same time.” Seiler said he graduated from “a little Catholic school in New Rockford. My graduating class had 12 kids. We had all 12 grades there. I went all 12 years of Catholic education.” After graduating from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., Seiler completed his studies in medicine at the University of Iowa. Seiler said he stayed in touch with his friends from St. John’s and became involved with the charity founded by his classmate’s brother, Father Jack Davis. The friendships Seiler cultivated would lead to four trips to Chimbote. “With Friends of Chimbote we send people who pay to go down there,” Seiler said. “They help build a house and work in construction and soup kitchens,” Seiler said. “Most people who go down there fall in love with it and want to go back or want to donate.”

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a job where I wasn’t always on my feet,” Berginski added. “I had had surgery on my foot and being in the water was good for that. In the pool, you’re not on your feet as a water safety instructor. So it worked out well to do that and it’s been about eight years.”

When she’s out of the pool, Berginski tends to her business, Rockin’ Relics Cafe, located in the former Ellingson and Gronvold Hardware building in downtown Rugby. Berginski and her husband, Greg, refurbished the old building in 2006, bringing the original early-1900s ceiling back to life, then recreating an old 1940s-era soda fountain, complete with a menu to match. Berginski enlists the help of family members and employees to keep the restaurant running as she branches out to serve the community in other ways.

“I do that because my staff picks up my duties,” Berginski explained. “My sister is used to managing restaurants. I wouldn’t be able to do the pool job without her doing her own job and my job in the summer. Then, we have summer help and that takes up more of the extra work.”

Berginski uses skills picked up with her business degree from North Dakota State University and being a parent to branch out even more.

“I’m not blessed in music and fine arts but I do like to support it,” she said with her characteristic modesty.

Berginski’s support of the arts at first came in the form of sewing costumes for plays produced by Rugby’s Village Arts, Inc.

When the organization had former President Glory Monson and Music Director Deb Jenkins at the helm, Berginski said she “observed what they did at rehearsals. I used to make costumes. That’s how I first got involved, making costumes for the kids,” Berginski said. “I wouldn’t call myself a director by any means but I could tell what was going on. I had done theater in high school and in the past but I don’t find myself being onstage.”

Still, her years-long involvement with Village Arts led her to a place on the board, then to the president’s post.

“I do the grant writing and represent Village Arts to the North Dakota Council on the Arts and the community,” Berginski said of her job. “I try to keep it going. I just keep encouraging volunteers, encouraging board members to find different activities in the arts that we can do.”

In her first year as president, Berginski helped with the board’s purchase of the former Bethany Lutheran Church building, which would give Village Arts a permanent center home. Before the purchase, the organization had performed plays and concerts at several venues, mostly Rugby High School’s Tilman Hovland Auditorium.

Then, COVID struck in 2020, adding a new challenge.

As state health guidelines loosened, the new center began hosting plays. Again, Berginski found herself faced with a need for volunteers. She still does.

“We need volunteers who have talents, or experience running a business, artistic people,” Berginski said. “I want to keep it going in the community. That’s my part - to keep it going on the business end to keep it going as a whole.”

“I would credit Deb and Glory for (starting things out). It’s their dream and you just want to help keep it alive,” Berginski said, adding, “I’m just one person there but I couldn’t do what I do without the help of other people, on the board and in the pool.”

“I try to put my best foot forward and accommodate as many people as I can. Sometimes, I overbook and get myself in trouble, but you just try to do what’s best for the most people,” Berginski said.

Berginski admitted there were times when she felt “overextended - sometimes when we’re in a deadline for different things, like government reports or grant deadlines or tax things.”

How does she manage stress? “I own an ice cream shop,” Berginski answered with a smile.

“My Easter Seals job also keeps me grounded,” Berginski added, noting she works part time as a direct support professional with the North Dakota nonprofit. “It was something that was very flexible and it was an opportunity to make someone else’s life better. You’re helping someone who needs help.”

“I gravitate toward people with special needs,” Berginski said.

Berginski’s the mom of children who live with autism. “They’re adults now, so they’re out doing their own thing. They hold jobs and they’re living their lives,” she said.

“I like to see people blossom,” Berginski said. “I like to see people be happy. It’s the same thing that runs across everything I do - to watch somebody grow or experience something new or just find some enjoyment. Even at the restaurant - to see somebody coming through the door who’s never been there before and see them enjoy the experience. The same thing goes with a new student coming to the pool. This is like a new experience and we want to make it fun and rewarding for them and learn how to be safe in the water. It’s the same thing when you come into the theater for a part, to find some creativity in yourself and express it, so we make an avenue for you to grow and experience it, even if you’re just coming to be entertained. It makes people happy and brings joy.”

“The same thing goes with my Easter Seals,” Berginski added. “If you can get that person to smile, that just makes your day.”

Doc

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“We people in the United States don’t know how good we have it. We complain about everything but we shouldn’t be complaining too much,” Seiler added. “I caution people, especially if they’ve spent more than a week, ‘When you go home, you’re going to be a changed person and you’ll miss people you’re working with. You’ll be a little short-tempered with people at home because they’re complaining about how the food’s too hot or too cold. At least you’ve got food.”

“I’ve also been to Guatemala with God’s Child Project. I’ve been to Mississippi and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; I’ve been to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. I’ve built with Habitat for Humanity in Africa, South America, Central America, Europe and Asia. Intermixed with that is all the volunteering I’ve done at home. I was involved with Boy Scouts for a while, too,” Seiler recounted.

Seiler’s volunteer work includes everything from financial support to providing hands-on medical care to natural disaster victims far from North Dakota.

His work as a physician brought him closer to home, however.

Seiler said when he finished his medical residency, “I wanted to practice in a small town. Part of it was financial because if I practiced in a town of under 5,000, I got 20 percent of my loans forgiven every year with no interest accumulating. And Rugby, of course, qualifies as under 5,000, so that helped quite a bit with my finances. I also came to Rugby because they had a group established and I didn’t feel comfortable necessarily wanting to be in practice all by myself right out of internship. I grew up here and kind of picked what I wanted,” he said of his choice to settle in central North Dakota.

“I had some indirect contacts. For the Johnson Clinic, one of the Johnson cousins recommended me coming to Rugby. And of course, the Johnson Brothers founded the Johnson Clinic. They both were still alive when I came,” Seiler said.

Seiler began practicing medicine in Rugby in 1973. He said he briefly considered leaving the area, however.

“I looked to leave twice,” he said. “I really could not find something I thought would be better for me. The first time I looked, it was pretty serious. I almost accepted a place in Texas but decided not to move.”

After Seiler considered relocating, he said he “pretty much wanted to stay here.”

“I was in family medicine and I had a Bush Foundation fellowship in 1992 that I spent a year studying geriatrics with,” Seiler added. “That was throughout the Midwest at different universities. So, I became a geriatric specialist, which I enjoyed somewhat more than what I was doing. And we have long term care and the Haaland Home, and I enjoy taking care of those patients.”

“I liked sharing their stories,” Seiler said of his patients. “Dr. Fox was one of the cofounders of the clinic here and I considered him one of my mentors in Rugby. I learned from him to stay calm. I also learned that you need to express some interest in your patients. So, for example, I’d make a note that So and So’s daughter is getting married, so the next time I see them, the note would remind me to talk to the daughter who’s getting married. It changed a little bit the way I practiced.”

Seiler’s ability to build trust with his patients caught the notice of the National Rural Heath Association, who named him Rural Health Practitioner of the Year in 2014. “I had to go to Las Vegas to get the award,” Seiler said modestly.

Seiler’s reputation has stayed with former patients and their families, who often speak highly of him.

Tammy Tufte, Activities Director at Haaland Estates, an assisted living facility in Rugby said, “When my mother- in- law was seeing him he had a lot of compassion for her. He was so good with her and made her feel like she was important, not just another person on his list. He was genuine. He cared.”

“He really cared about the elderly. You could clearly see that,” Tufte added.

“The residents he saw at the Haaland Home, they loved him,” Tufte said. “He was so good and very caring. I can’t say that enough.”

Seiler said he hopes to instill a desire to care for others in teens and young adults.

“I was asked to talk to a confirmation group at my church one night and one of the things I told them was please give back,” Seiler said. “That may just be volunteering at the church to fold bulletins or mow the lawn but it might be bigger, like going overseas. It might be bigger than just outside of your church.”

“Almost all of these organizations couldn’t survive without volunteers,” Seiler said of charities operating locally and abroad. “People think when I sign up for these trips for Habitat for Humanity that they pay all my way,” Seiler noted. “They don’t pay anything, really. I do have some help - Habitat trips are co-sponsored with Thrivent Financial. If you’re a Thrivent member, you get $500 off your costs and then if you send a group of eight people, Thrivent will give $8,000 to Habitat in the country you’re working in.”

“In most countries, that’ll build a couple of houses, or even more,” Seiler added.