Hays native Anthony J. Leiker has written a book about growing up and living in western Kansas. Along the way, he recounts some family history and personal struggles.

“Living in Shade - A Memoir,” was self-published at Outskirts Press (outskirtspress.com) and is available from Amazon.com as a 192-page paperback or in kindle format, or as an ebook at GooglePlay. The subtitle of this book is “A Memoir: Based on a true story of ancestry, self-deception, love, loss & hardship on the Plains of Western Kansas.”

The author also has his own website, “illusivememories.net,” which sells copies of “Living in the Shade,” as well as genealogy books and charts on Volga-German surnames.

Leiker grew up on a farm west of Liebenthal. His brother Chris and wife Rose Leiker live in Great Bend.

“My story covers my great-grandfather, who was an Englishman that was captured by the Russians during the Crimean War of 1854,” he said. “He was then placed into one of the Volga-German villages where he married my great-grandmother, Anna Maria Weber. He later died from drowning while trying to save two women from drowning.

“My maternal Grandfather Peter Enslinger served six years in the tzars army and then escaped through Poland and then to Germany where he, his wife, son, mother-in-law, maiden aunt, brother-in-law, and his wife and five children all made it to western Kansas in 1892.”

Leiker’s multi-generational story also covers his own life experiences – which includes everything from his favorite teacher to his work as a rehabilitation counselor, children’s protective workers and clinical social worker.

For decades he has researched census data for all of the Catholic Volga villages in the Samara Region of the Saratov, Russia, district in conjunction with Kevin Rupp from Hays. He also had help from a distant Enslinger cousin living in St. Petersburg, Russia, who took a train to Saratov and spent a week there copying the Volga-German village censuses. He then translated the information from Russian and/or German to English. Leiker has also joined tour groups in Russia to visit the Volga-German region as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg.