Anthony “Tony” J. Leiker, a native of Hays, Kansas, has a long and varied history of work experience: He owned multiple businesses and worked as a rehabilitation counselor, a Children’s Protective Services worker, and a clinical social worker in West Texas. He has published hundreds of different books on Volga German surname ancestor and descendant books as his research covered most of the Volga German villages in the Samara region north of Saratov, Russia. Living in the Shade chronicles his parents’ struggles and Tony’s own life story.
Living in the Shade - A Memoir
Based on a true story of ancestry, self-deception, love, loss, & hardship on the Plains of Western Kansas.
by Anthony James Leiker
Living in the Shade - A Memoir
Based on a true story of ancestry, self-deception, love, loss, & hardship on the Plains of Western Kansas.
by Anthony James Leiker
Published Jun 29, 2021
192 Pages
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / General
Book Details
A Multigenerational Story of Survival on the Plains of Western Kansas
In this moving memoir, the author chronicles his childhood in Western Kansas, starting with his grandparents, who suffered the terrible loss of their first seven children, with additional losses caused by the stock market crash, the Dust Bowl, and the Depression. Tony Leiker, one of ten children, grew up listening to tales of survival by his grandparents, who served under Tzar Alexander III in Russia before escaping to Germany and then to the U.S. His grandmother would talk of eating boiled grass, grasshoppers, mice, and other small animals to ward off starvation. She told of raids of the villages when the Kazaki nomads attacked and abducted people, and of a cousin whose chest was torn open by a wolf.
While Tony’s own life was free of starvation and wolves and nomads, it was far from easy. His memoir takes us from his childhood to the U.S. Navy, to marriage and children and the death of his wife—an incredible life filled with love, tragedy, hope, and triumph.