SHERIDAN - A graveside service with military honors, for Sheridan resident Gerald F. Kelly, 85, will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, in Sheridan Masonic Cemetery by Chaplain Arden Haeffner.

He died Aug. 29, 2005, at Sheridan Veterans' Affairs Medical Center.

Born July 22, 1920, in Newton, Iowa, he was the son of Ora (Link) and Ivan Kelly; and, at age 5, moved to Jackson Hole with his family. He was raised on a ranch on Beaver Creek and attended Sheridan schools, graduating from Sheridan High School.

In 1941, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. His unit was taken by the Japanese in the Philippines at the start of U.S. involvement in the war and he spent the next 3.5 years as a Japanese prisoner-of-war at camps in the Philippines and Japan. After his release, he recuperated at the V.A. Hospital in Denver and then returned to Sheridan.

He married his high-school sweetheart, Anna Sundquist; and went to work at Fort MacKenzie Veterans Hospital, remaining there until his retirement in 1975.

An avid outdoorsman, he spent every weekend in the mountains teaching his sons to hunt and fish, and tent-camping until he and his family built a cabin on Big Willow. After that, entire summers were spent wandering his beloved mountains.

He was a life member of the Elks Club, Masons, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars; as well as a patient and tireless Cub and Boy Scout leader.

He and his wife were tenacious cribbage players, and more than one deck of cards was ceremoniously burned in the cabin fireplace when the game became a little too 'heated.'"

Survivors include his wife; son, Melvin Kelly; a grandson; three great-granddaughters; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Ivan Kelly Jr.; a sister, Lorena Stevens; and a son, Gerald Jr.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Shriner's Children's Fund, in care of Brenda Torrens and Nicole Christensen, Bank of the West, 2 North Main St., Sheridan WY 82801.

Casper Star-Tribune - September 2, 2005.