Elizabeth “Betty” Rose Gehlen, 84, Moran, died Monday, Feb. 17, 2014, at her home.
Betty was born April 25, 1929, in Goddard, the daughter of Max and Elizabeth Rose (Degand) Leis. She grew up at Rose Hill.
On Sep. 21, 1950, Betty married Vincent Gehlen at Blessed Sacrament Church in Wichita. They made their home in Gordon for two years, Elsmore, for seven years and then Moran since 1960.
Betty worked as an aide at Moran Manor and Arkhaven in Iola. She later worked as a program supervisor at the SRS Office in Iola.
She was a member of St. John’s Catholic Church and Altar Society in Iola. Betty loved her grandkids and enjoyed gardening, canning, camping and fishing.
Survivors include her husband of 63 years, Vincent Gehlen; four children: Eugene Gehlen and companion Barbara Watkins, Richmond, Sherry Kozicki and husband, Patrick, Augusta, Patricia Smith and husband, Don, Wichita, and Gary Gehlen and wife, Andrea, Bronson; two brothers, Victor Leis, Rose Hill, and Robert Leis, Cedarvale; two sisters, Joyce Jones, Mulvane, and Lola Small, Florida; 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren with one on the way.
She was preceded in death by a daughter, Eileen Gehlen, brothers Tony, Cecil and Markus Leis, sisters Nettie, Henrietta and Nancy Ann, two great-grandsons, Garrett and Wyatt, niece Vicki Small and nephew David Jones.
Parish Rosary will be at 10 a.m., Thursday, at St. John’s Catholic Church in Iola. Funeral Mass will be at10:30 a.m., Thursday, also at the church. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery.
Memorial choices may be made to Mayo Clinic or Arc of Sedgwick County (Assn. for Retarded Citizens). Memorial gifts may be left with the Waugh-Yokum and Friskel Memorial Chapel of Iola.
To sign the guestbook online or leave a condolence, go to www.iolafuneral.com.
Elizabeth Gehlen
