PHILLIPS COUNTY

Colorado

 

 

 

 

Holyoke Enterprise, Holyoke, Colorado, September 20, 1934

 

USHER KELSEY LOSES LIFE IN GAS EXPLOSION AT OTIS

Body Is Cremated In Bulk Station As Efforts To Remove It Are Futile Until Building

Burns Down; Funeral Services Will Be Held At Haxtun Sunday

 

Usher E. Kelsey, former Holyoke resident, was burned to death Wednesday afternoon in a fire which followed a gasoline explosion in his bulk station at Otis. Although the fire broke out in the station about 3:30 in the afternoon it was impossible to remove the body until the fire had burned itself out about one o’clock this morning. By that time the body had been reduced to ashes.

 

It is not known what caused the explosion which might have resulted in instant death for Mr. Kelsey. He had gone into the building shortly before the explosion and had filled a tank wagon with gasoline, and had turned off the switch of the motor when either a quantity of gasoline or oil exploded. Two more explosions followed, one of them being of such force that an oil barrel was blown through the building, landing a half block away.

 

The bulk plant is located only a short distance from the service station operated by Mr. Kelsey, and Mrs. Kelsey and the service station attendants were both at the service station when the explosion occurred. The entire bulk station became a roaring furnace as the first explosion occurred, and it was impossible to go near it.

 

Funeral services will be held at Haxtun Sunday afternoon, according to present plans, and the American Legion posts of Haxtun and Holyoke will have charge of the burial services which will be held in the Haxtun cemetery. Mr. Kelsey was a charter member of the Holyoke post of the American Legion, and was a resident of Holyoke until about 10 years ago. He was a graduate of the Holyoke High School, and later attended a business college in Denver. He was 41 years old and had been engaged in the oil business in Otis for about five years.

 

Mr. Kelsey is survived by his wife, Mrs. Hazel Kelsey, a brother, Bernard, of Holyoke, and a sister Mrs. Cora Wood, of Seattle, Washington.

 

Members of the Holyoke post of the Legion will meet at the Legion hall at 12:30 Sunday afternoon and go in a body to Haxtun.

 

 Haxtun Harvest, Haxtun, Colorado, September 26, 1934

 

FUNERAL SERVICES FOR U.E. KELSEY AT HAXTUN SUNDAY

 

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Methodist church for Usher E. Kelsey, who lost his life in a fire last Wednesday at Otis, Colorado.

 

Members of the Haxtun and Holyoke American Legion posts and members of the Masonic lodge accompanied the funeral procession to the church in formation. Dr. C.O. Thibodeau, of Denver, delivered the funeral oration. Interment was made in the Haxtun cemetery, where a military funeral was conducted by the American Legion.

 

Usher Emmet Kelsey, son of W.D. and Ida Kelsey, was born at Holyoke, Colorado, February 3, 1893, and passed away at Otis, Colorado, September 19, 1934. He was reared in Holyoke and received his education in the Holyoke schools and Barnes Business College in Denver.  When a small child he was baptized into the Baptist church at Holyoke and spent his life at Holyoke until March 3, 1918.

 

He was enlisted in the U.S. Army, medical detachment, 129th Infantry, 32nd division. He was engaged in three major battles overseas and was discharged at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming on May 16, 1919.

 

He was a charter member of the American Legion Post No. 90, of Holyoke and a member of the Masonic lodge No. 164, of Haxtun. He was affiliated with the Noll’s & Foster Lumber companies for eleven years. On September 15, 1923 he was married to Hazel R. Marlatt of Haxtun, Colorado. In January of 1930 they moved to Otis, Colorado, where they had since made their home, being connected with the Sinclair Refining Company.

 

His mother preceded him in death on December 15, 1933, and his father, a prominent attorney of Holyoke, on June 26, 1926.

 

He leaves his wife, one sister, Cora Wood of Seattle, Washington, one brother, Bernard, of Holyoke, besides other relatives and a host of friends who will miss him and mourn his sudden death.

 

 

 

USHER E. KELSEY

Family information

 

Father:  W.D. Kelsey

Mother: Ida

 

 

Spouse:      Hazel                              Married

 

 

 

 Marlatt

September 15, 1923

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Last updated December 2018