Coming home

LAUREL — A Laurel native has returned home and is working as a local pharmacist.

Elizabeth (Baier) Brabec, daughter of Mitch and Penny Baier, grew up on a farm south of Laurel and west of Wayne.

“It’s totally like coming home,” she said.

She is the newest pharmacist at Main Street Apothecary, splitting her time also at the U-Save Pharmacy in Wayne. Brabec started her position earlier this year.

She attended Wayne High School, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her undergraduate degree and then on to pharmacy school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

After completing pharmacy school, she and her husband, Jeremy, lived in Columbus where she worked at CVS Pharmacy and they engaged in farming.

He died last fall which prompted Brabec to move herself and her 2-year-old daughter, Ellie, closer to her family still in the area.

“It’s super nice to be surrounded by a lot of help,” Brabec said with her parents watching Ellie while she works.

Brabec has enjoyed working in both Laurel and Wayne, and at a slower pace.

“At CVS, I did not have a ton of patient interaction because you’re just so busy all the time,” she said. “Now, I have that time to really take care of our patients.”

She said she’s enjoying smalltown living and the rural way of life once again.

“I’m so happy to be back,” Brabec said. “We’ve had a really good experience in the time that we’ve been here so far.”