Elmer H. Kahline Jr., clerk of the Circuit Court in Baltimore County for more than 14 years before his retirement in 1986, died Sunday of a respiratory illness at Baltimore County General Hospital. He was 61.

Services for Mr. Kahline, who lived in the Cockeysville area and earlier in Randallstown, were being held today at Loring Byers funeral establishment, 8728 Liberty Road in Randallstown.

Known as Jim since childhood, Mr. Kahline was appointed to the Circuit Court post in 1972 and then was elected to three consecutive four-year terms.

Earlier, he worked for 16 years in the Register of Wills office, serving as the chief deputy for 10 years.

A native of Stevenson and educated in the public schools and at the McDonogh School and the University of Oklahoma, he completed the court administration program at the University of Maryland in College Park. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War.

A member of many Democratic clubs in Baltimore County, he made an unsuccessful bid for the party's nomination for county executive in 1986.

A former president of the Randallstown Lions Club, he also was a deputy district governor for Lions International. He worked with youngsters, managing baseball teams and coaching Optimist football teams. He was named coach of the year by the News American in 1972 when his Randallstown Optimist Club team, the Mustangs, won the national Pop Warner League Championship.

He is survived by a daughter, Jamie M. Kahline of Randallstown; four sons, John M. Kahline of Wards Chapel, Paul R. Kahline of Towson, James H. Kahline of Hampstead, and Phillip Kahline of Baltimore; a brother, Thomas P. Kahline of Delray Beach, Fla.; and four grandchildren.