Bernardine Leiker, 80, passed away October 21, 2008 at Great Bend Health and Rehabilitation Center, Great Bend, Kansas. She was born on May 20, 1928 in Russell, County, the daughter of John and Rosa Mermis Jacobs. She was raised on a farm east of Gorham and graduated from Russell High School in 1947. Bernardine married Richard Leiker on October 6, 1951 at Gorham, Kansas. They made their home in Ness City. He died on August 10, 1987. After his death Bernardine moved to Great Bend. She was a member of the Daughters of Isabella at Gorham for the past 63 years. At Ness City she had been a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and the Altar Society at the church, Christian Mothers, where she served in every office, a C.C.D. teacher for twelve years, a Eucharistic Lay Minister and a charter life member of the Ness County Hospital Auxiliary. She was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis from 1954 to 1984. In Great Bend she was a member of the Prince of Peace Parish at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Altar Society, a lector and Eucharist Lay Minister, the St. Rose Funeral Choir, the R.C.I.A. team, the Marian Movement of Priests, Central Kansas Medical Center Auxiliary, and a Lay Associate of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend since 1984. Bernardine was also preceded in death by four brothers, Alfred Jacobs, Edwin Jacobs, Marvin Jacobs and her twin Bernard Jacobs. Survivors include three daughters, Alice Kerr and husband Jim, Larned, Mary Jane Leiker, Great Bend, and Donna Graf and husband Leonard W., Beloit; a son, Wayne Leiker and wife Karen, Holton; one sister, Mary Schmeidler, Hays; one brother, Louis Jacobs, Gorham; seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Bernardine will lie in state from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 24, 2008 and an Altar Society and D of I Rosary will be at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, October 24, 2008 at the Bryant Funeral Home in Great Bend. A wake service will be at 7:00 p.m. Friday, October 24 at the Dominican Chapel of the Plains in Great Bend. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ness City. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Memorials are suggested to Sacred Heart Cemetery or the Prince of Peace Parish in care of the funeral home, 1425 Patton Road, Great Bend, KS 67530. Funeral arrangements provided by Bryant Funeral Home, Great Bend and Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City.