Henry William "Hank" Kusel, 71, of Sheridan, passed away on Friday, March 2, 2012 at the the Saddleridge Care Center after a long illness. He was born January 10, 1941 in Sheridan, WY to Herman and Eileen West Kusel. After graduating from Sheridan High, he joined the Navy and served from 1960 to 1964 for a time on the USS Enterprise in the Mediterranean and off Cuba.

Hank retired as a maintenance engineer from the Sheridan County Hospital. He retired to take care of his loving wife Mary. He liked to tinker around on old cars, building street rods and coupes. He was known in Sheridan as " the man to go to if you had any questions or if you needed any help in building a rod." He was always willing to drop what he was doing to help anyone. He had endless patience and knowledge to help and to share his talents. A good time was the 3:00 p.m."Cocktail Hour" in his shop and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday was coffee with the boys at Perkins.

At the age of 26, he married Mary Josephine Ligocki Tissino on May 28, 1966 in Buffalo, WY. She brought into the marriage four children who survive: Tina Flack (Ken) Decker, Christine (Mike) Samietz, Randy Tissino, and Sandra (Chris) Sousley. Also surviving are grandchildren; Christian Flack, Jeremy and David Samietz, Shawn and Michelle Sousley, and three great grandchildren, two sisters; Mary Kusel of Salt Lake City and Margaret Williams of Spanish Fork, UT.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary and grandson, Brian Flack.

Funeral Mass for Hank will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at Holy Name Catholic Church with Father Ron Stolcis officiating. Interment will be in the Mount Hope Cemetery. A reception will follow in the parish hall.

Memorial to honor Hank may be made to the Sheridan Senior Center, 211 Smith Street, Sheridan, WY 82801.

Kane Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Online condolences may be written at www.kanefuneral.com

SheridanMedia.com - March 5, 2012.