GENESEO -- Leah Jane Gustus, 74, died March 15 at Promise Regional Medical Center, Hutchinson.

She was born Feb. 4, 1937, at Steamboat Springs, Colo., the daughter of Clifford Walter and Mary Alice Akin Kindle. She was married March 20, 1954 to Dean Gustus in Lyons.

The resident of Geneseo since the early 1940s was the owner of the former Jane’s Café, a cook for the Geneseo School District, a bookkeeper for Gustus Machine and a homemaker.

Memberships included Queen Esther Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, Lyons; Presbyterian Church, now the United Methodist Church, Geneseo; Ladies Thanksgiving Club, Geneseo; and past member of The Geneseo Golf Club.

Survivors include her husband, Dean, of the home; daughters, Patricia "Patty" Beagley, and Carolyn and Mike Kratzer, all of Geneseo; grandchildren, Curtis Beagley, Brooke Beagley, Ashlea Beagley, Dean Beagley, Jennifer Deneault, Callie Gustus and Haddie Gustus; great-grandchildren, Sadie Beagley, Colby Beagley, Kameryn Gustus and Zoee Gustus; and step-grandchildren, Ashley Gretencord and Laura Kratzer.

She was preceded in death by a son, Michael Dean Gustus; a brother, Bill Kindle; and a sister, Shirley Click.

A funeral service is scheduled at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 19, at Birzer Funeral Home, Lyons. Burial will follow at the Geneseo Cemetery. Visitation is scheduled from 2 to 7 p.m., Friday, March 18 at the funeral home, with the family receiving friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Memorials can be sent to the Geneseo American Legion, the Geneseo United Methodist Church, or St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, in care of the funeral home.

Funeral arrangements provided by

Birzer Funeral Home

214 W. Ave. South

Lyons, KS, 67554

Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, March 17, 2011