Harley D. Zephier has been appointed Area Director in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Aberdeen Area, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today. The area includes South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska.
Zephier, who has been the Acting Director since last fall, was previously the Tribal Government and Indian Rights Officer and Tribal Operations Officer in the Area.
A member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Zephier is a 1962 graduate of Yankton State College in South Dakota. He majored in secondary and physical education.
He was a high school teacher and athletic coach in South Dakota public schools for four years. In 1966 he became an Educational Specialist with the Indian Health Service at Winnebago Nebraska and in 1969 was named Director of the IHS hospital at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
Zephier, 40, was born at Pine Ridge. He is married and has seven children.
