John DuPlessis, Sr.

Hometown: Elizabethtown, KY.

Education: North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC.)

Community Support: John serves as a volunteer for the Hardin County-based Habitat for Humanity and the Louisville-based WaterStep Project. He also is active in his church, Saint James Catholic Church.

Occupation: Owner of JKD LLC, former president of Crucible Materials Corporation, Magnetics Division.

Family: John and his wife Kitty have five children, 20 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Why are you volunteering your time on the Baptist Health Foundation Hardin Board? As someone who was a member of the original Hardin Memorial Health Foundation Board in the 1990s, I know the value this board has on our region’s primary healthcare system. So much of my civic service has revolved around Baptist Health Hardin over the years because so much of our community’s success revolves around Baptist Health Hardin.

Considering your service on the board, along with your work with Habitat for Humanity and the WaterStep Project, why is community service important to you? Community service is something that has been instilled in me both through my Christian faith and through my experience as a Boy Scout leader for over two decades.

What does gratitude mean to you and what are you grateful for? I am most grateful for my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren and for my health.