1941
James
2022
James Harry Kelson
May 13, 1941 — June 30, 2022
His name was James Harry Kelson and he was an outstanding person. He was born on May 13, 1941, to his parents Ray Kelson and Deon Beagley Kelson, the second of three children. His Utah heritage included pioneer ancestry from Denmark and Norway as well indigenous ancestry of the Sauk tribe. His childhood afforded him an adventurous life in his hometown of Nephi, Utah. His parents owned Ray’s Café on Main Street at the south end of town: a restaurant, truck stop, and bowling alley, all under the same roof. The café was where he ate his meals cooked by his mother, worked his shifts scheduled by his father, and fist fought his challengers scared of his older brother.
He loved his father and his mother and he loved his brothers Gordon and Val. He was part of a tightly knit family whose activities sprung from the abundant outdoors in their backyard. Pole Canyon, Devil’s Kitchen, Fish Lake, Otter Creek, and the Ute Stampede became places to hunt, to fish, to compete, and to gather.
He began riding horses around his town at four-years-old. He was easy in the saddle. He found solace throughout his life on a horse to see what was just over the next ridge in the Bridger-Teton or just around the next canyon wall of Grand Staircase. He also found exhilaration on a horse to compete in rodeo as team roper or to compete as a cow cutter or to race a fellow cowboy just because.
He began playing sports at a young age, too. He enjoyed football, boxing, and track and field. He discovered basketball and eventually his 6’4” frame and 36” vertical jump seemed tailor-made for it. “Jumpin’ Jimmy” excelled as a basketball player. He was part of a consistently winning championship team. Coach Stan Watts of Brigham Young University noticed him and offered him a place on his team. He played for the Cougars from 1959 to 1963. He distinguished himself as both a shooter and a rebounder. His intelligent read of the game earned the praise of coaches throughout the Western Athletic Conference and he became a scout standout.
He eventually enrolled in the doctorate program of physical therapy at the University of Southern California. It was in Los Angeles where he met the love of his life, Valerie. This combination of the small-town-cowboy-athlete-intellectual and the fiery Italian princess with an equal part passion for life was lightning in a bottle. Their romance was extraordinary. He married her on October 29, 1966, in Woodland Hills, California: the handsomest and the prettiest.
He settled down with her in Hidden Hills, California, to raise their children, but the mountains beckoned him. He moved his family to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a couple of years on a homestead between the airport and the Snake River at the base of the Tetons. He would commute to and from Los Angeles. It snowed in July while Jim was away. Valerie packed her kids in the car and returned to Southern California. He was surprised to see her.
He adopted Los Angeles as his hometown city. His season tickets to both the Lakers and Dodgers, his Bonanza at Van Nuys Airport, and his horses in the corrals of old Calabasas, were constant invitations to his wife and kids. Despite the neighborhood surroundings, he could not quite abandon his hometown roots. He was the only Hidden Hills resident with his own tractor in the yard, a stalk rack in his pickup, a steer in a pen, and chickens in the coop. In 1978, he and Valerie were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and subsequently to their children.
His mountain roots were deep enough to tap eventually into the precious Rocky Mountains once again. He moved his family to Midway, Utah in 1979, and he found a home to continue to raise them. He commuted between the San Fernando Valley and the Heber Valley for several years and finally made Utah his only hometown. His workplace centered around Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in a strategic partnership with Intermountain Health Care. He loved his work and its people. At times, he would travel between Midway and Provo three times a day in his dually pickup for work, a football game, a basketball game, a recital, a match, and a meet.
His schedule always gave way to his family. When dinner table discussions became lively, he would at times sit back and state that unlike his wife, he’s not an Italian, but a Nephite. As much as drama was a part of family mealtime, love was an even greater part of it. His concern for his children would often lead to his stating that he was only as happy as his saddest child.
His devotion to family was spectacular. He loved any activity with his family: building fences, hauling hay, riding horseback, hunting anything, and fishing anywhere. He charged head-on at life to experience the new and then build a campfire around which to tell stories and create folklore based on the same. He loved his family. His wife, his children, and his 26 grandchildren and great grandchildren were his purpose.
His devotion to his friends was awesome and their love for him was constant. Whether in a hunting blind in Zimbabwe, at a hospital room in Provo, at an orphanage in Romania, at a shelter in Haiti, in a booth at Swiss Days, at a church in Kohala, or at his Triangle F in Bondurant, he was making and strengthening friendships always.
He lived a charmed life: he met Elvis Presley in his home at Graceland and went to a movie with him and Priscilla; he and Valerie were contestants on the Newlywed Game; he worked as a lead physical therapist at the 1984 Olympics Games in Los Angeles; he ballooned across the plains of Tanzania; and he hunted boars weekly while serving a full-time mission with Valerie for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His adventures are countless and legendary and will live around campfires forever.
Jim Kelson was happy, active, and good. His constant smiling was a gift to everyone around him.
He suffered a stroke in 2018 from which he struggled to recover. He still smiled. He still laughed. He still loved. He died on June 30, 2022 at the age of 81, with Valerie, his wife of 56 years, by his side. He is survived by many family members, including Valerie, Jaynee, Heather and Tyler, Hilary, Lance, Clint and Angie, Heath, Seth and Camie, and Jen and Wade.
A viewing will be held on Sunday, July 17, 2022, from 4:30 PM – 8:00 PM and again on Monday, July 18, 2022, from 9:00 AM-9:30 AM with a funeral service to follow at 10:00 AM at the Midway Stake Center, 165 North Center Street, Midway, Utah 84049. Interment will take place immediately following the service at the Midway City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the National Ability Center: https://discovernac.org/ways-to-give/ . To stream the services, please visit:
https://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/75694/hash:09398FE91862320A
He loved his father and his mother and he loved his brothers Gordon and Val. He was part of a tightly knit family whose activities sprung from the abundant outdoors in their backyard. Pole Canyon, Devil’s Kitchen, Fish Lake, Otter Creek, and the Ute Stampede became places to hunt, to fish, to compete, and to gather.
He began riding horses around his town at four-years-old. He was easy in the saddle. He found solace throughout his life on a horse to see what was just over the next ridge in the Bridger-Teton or just around the next canyon wall of Grand Staircase. He also found exhilaration on a horse to compete in rodeo as team roper or to compete as a cow cutter or to race a fellow cowboy just because.
He began playing sports at a young age, too. He enjoyed football, boxing, and track and field. He discovered basketball and eventually his 6’4” frame and 36” vertical jump seemed tailor-made for it. “Jumpin’ Jimmy” excelled as a basketball player. He was part of a consistently winning championship team. Coach Stan Watts of Brigham Young University noticed him and offered him a place on his team. He played for the Cougars from 1959 to 1963. He distinguished himself as both a shooter and a rebounder. His intelligent read of the game earned the praise of coaches throughout the Western Athletic Conference and he became a scout standout.
He eventually enrolled in the doctorate program of physical therapy at the University of Southern California. It was in Los Angeles where he met the love of his life, Valerie. This combination of the small-town-cowboy-athlete-intellectual and the fiery Italian princess with an equal part passion for life was lightning in a bottle. Their romance was extraordinary. He married her on October 29, 1966, in Woodland Hills, California: the handsomest and the prettiest.
He settled down with her in Hidden Hills, California, to raise their children, but the mountains beckoned him. He moved his family to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a couple of years on a homestead between the airport and the Snake River at the base of the Tetons. He would commute to and from Los Angeles. It snowed in July while Jim was away. Valerie packed her kids in the car and returned to Southern California. He was surprised to see her.
He adopted Los Angeles as his hometown city. His season tickets to both the Lakers and Dodgers, his Bonanza at Van Nuys Airport, and his horses in the corrals of old Calabasas, were constant invitations to his wife and kids. Despite the neighborhood surroundings, he could not quite abandon his hometown roots. He was the only Hidden Hills resident with his own tractor in the yard, a stalk rack in his pickup, a steer in a pen, and chickens in the coop. In 1978, he and Valerie were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and subsequently to their children.
His mountain roots were deep enough to tap eventually into the precious Rocky Mountains once again. He moved his family to Midway, Utah in 1979, and he found a home to continue to raise them. He commuted between the San Fernando Valley and the Heber Valley for several years and finally made Utah his only hometown. His workplace centered around Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in a strategic partnership with Intermountain Health Care. He loved his work and its people. At times, he would travel between Midway and Provo three times a day in his dually pickup for work, a football game, a basketball game, a recital, a match, and a meet.
His schedule always gave way to his family. When dinner table discussions became lively, he would at times sit back and state that unlike his wife, he’s not an Italian, but a Nephite. As much as drama was a part of family mealtime, love was an even greater part of it. His concern for his children would often lead to his stating that he was only as happy as his saddest child.
His devotion to family was spectacular. He loved any activity with his family: building fences, hauling hay, riding horseback, hunting anything, and fishing anywhere. He charged head-on at life to experience the new and then build a campfire around which to tell stories and create folklore based on the same. He loved his family. His wife, his children, and his 26 grandchildren and great grandchildren were his purpose.
His devotion to his friends was awesome and their love for him was constant. Whether in a hunting blind in Zimbabwe, at a hospital room in Provo, at an orphanage in Romania, at a shelter in Haiti, in a booth at Swiss Days, at a church in Kohala, or at his Triangle F in Bondurant, he was making and strengthening friendships always.
He lived a charmed life: he met Elvis Presley in his home at Graceland and went to a movie with him and Priscilla; he and Valerie were contestants on the Newlywed Game; he worked as a lead physical therapist at the 1984 Olympics Games in Los Angeles; he ballooned across the plains of Tanzania; and he hunted boars weekly while serving a full-time mission with Valerie for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His adventures are countless and legendary and will live around campfires forever.
Jim Kelson was happy, active, and good. His constant smiling was a gift to everyone around him.
He suffered a stroke in 2018 from which he struggled to recover. He still smiled. He still laughed. He still loved. He died on June 30, 2022 at the age of 81, with Valerie, his wife of 56 years, by his side. He is survived by many family members, including Valerie, Jaynee, Heather and Tyler, Hilary, Lance, Clint and Angie, Heath, Seth and Camie, and Jen and Wade.
A viewing will be held on Sunday, July 17, 2022, from 4:30 PM – 8:00 PM and again on Monday, July 18, 2022, from 9:00 AM-9:30 AM with a funeral service to follow at 10:00 AM at the Midway Stake Center, 165 North Center Street, Midway, Utah 84049. Interment will take place immediately following the service at the Midway City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the National Ability Center: https://discovernac.org/ways-to-give/ . To stream the services, please visit:
https://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/75694/hash:09398FE91862320A
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of James Harry Kelson, please visit our flower store.
Service Schedule
Past Services
Viewing
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Starts at 4:30 pm (Mountain time)
Midway Stake Center
Viewing
Monday, July 18, 2022
Starts at 9:00 am (Mountain time)
Midway Stake Center
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