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J. T. Kelton was born in McMinnville, Tennessee on May 10, 1912. He was the second child and first son of Della I. and Claude Malvern Kelton. The family, including brothers Claude, Larry and Jack and sisters Lillie, Helen and Evelyn moved to Clark in 1927. Due to his fathers illness and early death, J. T., as a teenager, went to work full-time to help support the family. During the Depression he worked at the Clark sawmill and Butcherknife mine. In 1933 J. T. married Beatrice Smith and they ranched on the Fisher place near Clark for the next 12 years and then moved to Steamboat Springs when J. T. was hired as Undersheriff. In 1949 J. T. married Clara Matthews Yeager and moved to Denver where J. T. went to work for Englewood Police Department. In 1954 J. T. was involved in a major automobile accident, spending the next 1 1/2 years recovering from his injuries. He worked for the Denver Sheriff's Department prior to 1961 when he moved back to Routt county and purchased the Ward Wren place on Twentymile Road and resumed ranching. He was one of the first cattlemen in the area to cross Charlois and Angus cattle. His innovative farming techniques brought high yield crops. In 1970 he was elected Sheriff and served two terms through 1978. He served during a time when Routt County was experiencing rapid growth and the Steamboat Ski Area was establishing its national reputation. J. T. offered strong law enforcement leadership. Sometimes hailed as a hero, sometimes hotly opposed, he never wavered from what he believed to be right. He retired in 1978 and continued to ranch in the summers and spend winters in Wickenburg, Arizona where he died on December 15, 1987 following a lengthy illness. J. T. Kelton is buried in Steamboat Springs Cemetery.
Resource:
Steamboat Pilot December 1987
© 2004 Joyce Cusick nacpinc@hotmail.com
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