Sherman R. Kelsey, of Wellington, Kansas, passed away Tuesday, April 23, 2019 at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas at the age of 72. He resided in Marion, Augusta, Kingman and Norwich, Kansas before retiring in Wellington, Kansas. 
Sherman was born the son of Harvey "Ben" and Erma Agnes (Looney) Kelsey on Tuesday, January 7, 1947 in Mare Island, California. He was raised and educated in Marion, Kansas where he was active in FFA, Vo-Ag, theater and drama until he graduated in 1965. Following high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was honorably discharged in 1970. Sherman then attended Emporia State University and graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration with a minor in Economics and Psychology. He then performed two years of graduate studies at North Eastern University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma while working in construction and banking. 
Sherman enjoyed staying involved in the communities that he was a part of. Affiliations include: past Treasurer for Kiwanis (Kansas), American Recycler Assn. and Marion Co. Improvement District BOD, executive board member of Kingman Co. Recycling Assn., board member of Kingman Co. Meals on Wheels, past regional secretary for National Home Builders Assn., Chaplain for American Legion and American Legion Riders of Post 414 in Kingman, Kansas and current member of the Wellington American Legion. He was a lifetime member of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Marion, Kansas. 
Outside of work and his civic duties, Sherman was an automotive and aircraft enthusiast as well as an amateur auto and motocross racer with SCCA, NHRA and Oval. He enjoyed woodworking and honing his handyman skills. Sherman loved reading, writing short stories and was an occasional actor in commercials and a movie. Sherman has been to four continents and fifteen countries (as he would say, "half of them courtesy of the US Navy") and thirty six states. Most of all, he enjoyed the time spent traveling with his wife, Wanda. The two were married on May 1, 1982 in Marion, Kansas.
He was preceded in death by his father, mother and step-father, a father-in-law and two siblings. 
Survivors include his wife, Wanda Kelsey of Wellington, Kansas, three children: Jennifer Garza and her husband Joel, Nicolas Thornbro, and Tamara Kelsey, three children of his heart: Paula Fankhauser, Eric Soyez and Jeff Soyez, thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. 
Although Sherman retired in 2009, he enjoyed serving the Wellington community as a Funeral Director assistant at Cornejo | Day Funeral Home. His stories, jokes and wisdom will be missed by us all. 
Funeral services for Sherman will be held at 2:00 p.m., Friday, April 26, 2019 in the chapel of Cornejo | Day Funeral Home, 1030 Mission Road, Wellington, Kansas. 
A private interment will follow at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Norwich, Kansas.
Memorials have been established in his loving memory to Wellington Humane Society, PO Box 494, Wellington, Kansas 67152 or Wellington Fire / EMS Dept. Contributions may be mailed or left with the funeral home.
To share a memory or leave condolences, please visit www.cornejodayfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements are by Cornejo|Day Funeral Home & Crematory, Wellington, Kansas.