July 29, 1950 – December 23, 2025
Krystyna Stanislawa Kenig Leary passed away on Dec. 23rd, 2025, at Research Medical Center due to complications from a stroke.
Krystyna was born to Jan and Klara (Iwanicki) Kenig on July 29th, 1950, in Weinsberg, Germany, at a displaced persons camp for refugees after World War II. She arrived in the United States with her parents and her sister Helen by ship through Ellis Island in 1951. They settled in a Polish neighborhood in Northeast Kansas City. Krystyna and her siblings learned English while attending elementary school. Krystyna graduated from Van Horn High School in 1968, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen on April 6th,1970.
Krystyna worked for the United States Department of Agriculture as a business analyst for 10 years and later worked in food service in the Shawnee Mission School District until her retirement in 2015.
Krystyna is preceded in death by her father, mother, brothers (Joe and Stan), and sister Sophie.
She is survived by her five children, Noel Eaton (Paul), Amy Hankins, Brandon Kenig, Shannon Barnes (Jacob), Haley Kenig; her nine grandchildren, Nathanael Eaton (Cenedra), Justin Hankins, Elizabeth Eaton, Matthew Eaton, Andrew Eaton, Caleb Hankins, Sophie Barnes, Sebastian Barnes, Nora Barnes; her four great grandchildren, Evelynne Eaton, Arlo Eaton, Marceline Eaton, Bronson Eaton; and her sister Helen Stewart (Albert); and many nephews and nieces.
A dual funeral mass for Krystyna and her brother, Joseph Kenig (who was born on February 6th, 1952, and passed away on January 16th, 2022, of pneumonia at Kansas City VA Hospital) will be held on Monday, January 12th at 10 AM at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shawnee, Kansas.
A luncheon and then Burial service will immediately follow at Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery in Kansas City.
Obituary published by Charter Funerals.
