Matilda "Tillie" (Honas) Leiker

Matilda “Tillie” (Honas) Leiker

Matilda “Tillie” (Honas) Leiker, 90, Hays, died Monday, January 15, 2024 at HaysMed.

She was born on a farm near Ellis, Kansas on April 13, 1933 to William and Mary (Weber) Honas.  On May 3, 1952 she married Milton J. Leiker from Antonino, Kansas, and they were married 64 years before he preceded her in death on August 30, 2016.  Together they had five children:  Arthur, Lorraine, Duane, Mark, and Warren.  Tillie worked as a librarian at Sangley Point Naval Station in the Philippines, a telephone clerk for Continental Telephone Co. in Virginia and then moved to Hays, Kansas with her husband when he retired from Federal Civil Service.  She was the secretary/receptionist for Alaniz and Sons and then for Hays Mailing Services until she retired in 1999.  Tillie was a member of St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church and a former member of the Catharine Altar Society Christian Mothers and the Daughters of Isabella Circle #254 of Hays.

Survivors include her five children, Arthur and wife Barbara, Lorraine “Laura”, Duane and wife Anne, Mark and wife Marla, and Warren and fiancé Karen, three siblings, Dorothy Dechant, Henry Honas and wife Joyce, and William Honas and wife Brenda, eight grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Milton, her parents, and two brothers, Alfred and Adolph Honas.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 am on Friday, January 19, 2024 at St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church with Fr. Damian Richards officiating.  Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery.  Visitation will be from 6:00 pm until 8:00 on Thursday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Friday, all at Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home.  A vigil service and rosary will be at 7:00 pm on Thursday at the funeral home.  Memorials are suggested to A Different Mindset Association, a local group offering support to those with Dementia and Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.  Condolences and memories of Tillie may be left for her family at www.haysmemorial.com