SHERIDAN - Services for Sheridan resident Philip R. Barker, 82, will be conducted at 2 p.m. today, Oct. 7, at Champion-Ferries Funeral Home in Sheridan by Fr. Thomas Ogg. Interment will be in Sheridan Elks Cemetery, with military rites accorded by the Wyoming National Guard and the American Legion.

He died Oct. 3, 2003, at Sheridan Veterans Administration Medical Center, following a heart attack.

Born July 25, 1921, in Parkman, he was the son of George and Ernestine (Jaccar) Barker.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and Army Air Corps and was trained as a pilot.

On Feb. 11, 1946, he married Bonnie Muller of Sheridan.

After the war, he briefly worked with his brothers in Barkers Brothers Construction, building reservoirs and other projects throughout northern Wyoming and southern Montana. He completed auto body training in 1946 and first worked for Cook Ford Sales and then for Riley Motor Co., before founding Barker's Auto Body in the early 1970s. He retired due to health problems in 1992.

He loved hunting, fishing, and all outdoor pursuits; and traveled to Alaska and the Northwest Territories for fishing trips. The couple enjoyed several trips to Hawaii.

An avid gardener, he became an expert in tree culture in his later years. He was a longtime member of Sheridan Elks Lodge and the American Legion; and loved telling stories of the old West to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years of Sheridan; two daughters, Patricia Ann Barker Lawrence of Basin and Carol LeResche; three brothers, George, Robert and Eugene Barker, all of Sheridan; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Gabriel and Joseph; and a great-grandson.

Memorials may be made to Disabled American Veterans, in care of Karen Green, First Interstate Bank, Box 2007, Sheridan 82801.