Ida Mae (Hamel) LeSage

Ida Mae (Hamel) LeSage, age 95, of Hays, passed away on Monday, June 2, 2025, at Pinnacle Park Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Salina, Kansas.

She was born on January 26, 1930, on the family farm four miles north of Damar, Kansas, to Alex and Elsie (Thibault) Hamel and was the youngest of 16 children. Dr. Peterson, who delivered Ida Mae, later delivered three of her children, Mark, Alan, and Denise.

At age six, Ida Mae attended a country school near their farm for only one year. She then rode the school bus to Damar, where she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph and graduated from Damar High School. She often recounted that, being the youngest in the family, she was the target of many pranks, especially from her brothers, Jack and Willie.

Her father, Alex, died in January of 1940 before her tenth birthday, and the family (Elsie, Jack, Willie, and Ida Mae) then moved to a house in Damar in 1941. Ida Mae often babysat for her many nieces, nephews, and cousins during her adolescent years.

Ida Mae met Dean LeSage at a baseball game in Damar, and they soon discovered that they shared the same birthday, January 26. They were married on July 26, 1951, in Damar and settled on a farm ten miles north of Damar. Dean preceded her in death on May 17, 2014. They had seven children.

After retiring from farming, Dean and Ida Mae moved to Hays in 1985, where she volunteered at the ARC Thrift Shop for over 25 years. While in Hays, Ida Mae spent her free time visiting with friends, playing dominoes, puzzling, attending weekly bingo, and making frequent trips to Walmart.

She occasionally went on horse trail rides with Dean. Ida Mae especially enjoyed visiting with her grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, as well as reminiscing with lifelong friends. Her final three weeks were spent at the Pinnacle Park Nursing Home in Salina.

She is survived by her seven children: Mark LeSage and Sue, Stockton, Alan LeSage and Nyla, Salina, Leon LeSage and Michelle, Pretty Prairie, Les LeSage and Connie, Winchester, Va., Denise Goetz and John, Wichita, Renee Oliphant and Doug, Olathe, and Deanna LeSage, Victoria; her sister-in-law, Antionette Hamel, Hill, City; her grandchildren, Tiffany LeSage, Jessica LeFort, Tyson LeSage, Preston LeSage, Parker LeSage, Skye King, Matthew Goetz, Maria Devaney, Scott Oliphant, Travis Oliphant, Nicole Oliphant, Sydney Ware, and Sawyer LeSage; and 22 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Dean; eleven brothers: Francis, Edmond, Albert, Arthur, Bernard, Alphonse, Louis, Emery, Oliver, Jasper, and Wilfred; and four sisters: Alma Waldron, Lucille Thomie, Edna Haag, and Olive Hamel.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. Friday, June 6, 2025, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church, 13th and Ash, Hays, Kansas, with Celebrant Father Fred Gatschet. The burial will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Friday at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in WaKeeney. A Vigil Service and Rosary will be at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays.

Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday at the Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays and from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Friday, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church.

The family suggests that memorials be made payable to DSNWK for the Victoria, Kansas, group home or Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Damar, Kansas, in care of Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601.   Condolences can be emailed to clineschapels@gmail.com or left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com