Irene Bittel, 97, a longtime Hays resident, died on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, at the Overland Park Regional Hospital.

She was born March 31, 1917, in Catharine, Kansas, the daughter of Paul and Mary (Seitz) Miller. In 1945, she married Isidore Philip Bittel, Hays, at the Army Base Chapel in Alamogordo, N.M. He died November 7, 1989. Irene was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Daughters of Isabella, and the VFW Auxiliary. She worked at St. Anthony Hospital/Hays Medical Center for 45 years and was the recipient of the Norman W. Jeter Humanitarian Award in 1996. She resided in Hays until 2010 when she moved to the Kansas City area to be near her family.

Survivors include her daughters, Mary Ann Tsucalas and husband Chris of Elkridge, MD, Carol Andersen and husband Tony of Overland Park, KS, and Jane Moran and husband Jim of Overland Park, KS; seven grandchildren, Jonathan Tsucalas and wife Erin of Charlotte, NC, Hillary Tsucalas of Baltimore, MD and Justin Tsucalas and wife Michele of Baltimore, MD, Allison Dreiling Gutierrez and husband Jacob of Lenexa, KS, Todd Dreiling of Overland Park, KS, Alice Andersen of Overland Park, KS, and Natalie Moran of Overland Park, KS; three great grandchildren, Thea and Brynley Tsucalas of Charlotte, NC  and Oliver Tsucalas of Baltimore; two sisters, Louise Hammerschmidt of Victoria, KS and Mary Agnes Hayes of Topeka, KS; and many nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and 13 brothers and sisters,  Alphonse, Otilla, Joseph, Marcel, Severin, Rudolph, Rita (Bieker), Leona (Smith), Edgar, Cyrilla (Dinkel), Gilbert, Eugene and Robert.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 26th at the St. Joseph Catholic Church, Hays.  Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery.  Visitation will be from 6:00 pm until 8:00 on Friday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 on Saturday all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street.  A Daughters of Isabella rosary will be at 6:00 pm followed by a parish vigil service at 6:30, both on Friday at the funeral home.

Memorials are suggested to the Hospice of Hays Medical Center, in care of the funeral home. Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com.