Former Sheridan County resident Larry Edward Wilkins, 68, Hudson, died Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008, in Casper’s Wyoming Medical Center due to heart complications, according to his family.

Cremation has taken place.

Services will be 1 p.m. Oct. 11 at Lander Valley Baptist Church in Lander.

Born April 4, 1940, in Billings to Lee and Rose (Schedlock) Wilkins, he spent his childhood in the Sheridan area and on his grandfather’s small ranch outside Ranchester, where he developed a love of horses.

He graduated in 1958 from Sheridan High School. As a young man, he worked at Eatons’ Dude Ranch as a wrangler and cowboy.

He settled in the Lander-Hudson area, where he drove a truck and did air conditioning and sheet metal work.

He worked at the Lander Ace Hardware store for several years until semiretirement.

He enjoyed training and riding horses throughout his life, hunting and fishing, particularly in the Wind River Mountains.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jennie Wilkins, and a sister, Jonalee Herbst.

Survivors include his wife, Jean (Barnes) Wilkins; three children, Lee of Helena, Mont., Mike of Silver Springs, Fla., and Tannis Walker of Sheridan; three stepchildren, Robert Vaile of Etna Green, Ind., Pam Destefano of Lander, and Kathy Huskey of Aurora, Colo.; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The Sheridan Press - October 2, 2008