SHERIDAN -- Funeral services for Sheridan native G. Jim Kelsey, 70, will be held at 10 a.m. today at First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Joseph Keys officiating.  Interment is in the Sheridan Elks Cemetery with military honors by the American Legion and at the Wyoming National Guard.

He died March 3, 2001, at the VA Medical Center in Sheridan.

He was born May 6, 1930, in Sheridan to Harry and Beulah (Graham) Kelsey.

They are a six-generation Sheridan family.

He enlisted in the U.S. Marines in January 1947 and was stationed at Tsingtao, China, in 1948, then at Witck Camp, Guam, until returning to Sheridan in 1950.

He married Ruby Alice Wilson on Jan. 28, 1950.

He worked livestock and rode horses for numerous ranches in Wyoming and Montana.  He then hauled crude oil for Barlow Trucking until he became a patrolman for the Sheridan Police Department on Nov. 6, 1956.

He attended the Law Enforcement Academy at the University of Wyoming in June 1964, where he trained in criminal investigation and fingerprinting.  He was promoted to detective sergeant on Aug. 1, 1971: to lieutenant on Aug. 1, 1972, and to captain-assistant chief on May 14, 1974.  He retired from the force on March 6, 1978.

He then went to work for Metz Beverage Co., as a long haul driver and drove more than 2 million miles before retiring because of health in the spring of 1993.

His wife preceded him in death in November 1993.

He continued his lifetime pleasures of riding, roping, hunting, fishing, dancing and working livestock until December 2000, when took his last ride on his horse, Friday.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Elks Lodge No. 520, VFW, Police Protective Association and was recently inducted into the Military Order of the Cootie Cloud Peak Pup Tent and Auxiliary of the VFW.

He was preceded in death by one daughter, Peggy Jo Kelsey, and one brother, Frank Kelsy.

Survivors include two daughters, Gloria "Chick" Pilcher of Story and Betty Biesterfeld of Andrews, Texas; two brothers, Bill Kelsey of Sheridan and Dennis Thayer of Riverton; three sisters, Elsie Mae Hammett and Ardis Bowman, both of Sheridan, and Donna Yarrington of Lakewood, Colo.; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Arrangements by Champion Ferries Funeral Home.