A rancher who was born in Colorado and grew up in Delta County, Colorado. He lived on land in Escalante Canyon that was homesteaded in 1885 by his father and mother, John and Annie Musser. He was raised in a log cabin that had been built in 1885. He met his wife Eda May Baker in a dance class in Delta. After their marriage and honeymoon in Grand Junction's LaCourt Hotel, they lived first on a ranch in Cedar Mesa, presumably near Eda's Uncle Homer. They later moved to Escalante Canyon, where Kelso took over his father's ranching business, the LMJ Ranch. Kelso Mesa is named for him.