Leona "Dude" (Wilson) Mulligan

Leona "Dude" (Wilson) Mulligan

October 23, 1927 – November 20, 2022

How do you summarize a life span of 95 years? I guess you start with a name, "Leona Marie Wilson" commonly known as "Dude" (a nickname bestowed on her by her cowboy-rancher father when she was born). The story goes that in 1927 in Maple Hill, Kansas when he presented the baby to her 4 older siblings her Papa remarked "isn't she a little dude?". Her parents, Hattie McClelland Wilson and Willice Wilson, added another 2 children to their family after Dude. When Dude was 17 she moved to Garden City to live with her oldest sister's family and care for their children. She graduated from high school while there.

After graduation she moved to Topeka where she worked at a jewelry shop, Morrell's, & Capitol Federal. At Morrell's she met & married Ambrose "Andy" Mulligan in 1952. They had 3 children over the next 11 years – Becky, Tim, and Barb. In that time the family moved to Chicago, then Florida before returning to Topeka in the 1970s. In Chicago she was a pharmacy tech and the hostess of many neighborhood parties. The "Lowe Ave gang" was a very social group. Many long-time friendships were forged in those days over Bunco, beers, & backyard fences.

In Florida she was a seamstress and assistant to the director of the local Boys Club. In Topeka, Andy started a home remodeling business and Dude became his bookkeeper and wood finisher. They rented for a while before building their own home on Ashworth. Andy did most of the construction while she sanded and stained every piece of wood that went in that house. After Andy retired Dude applied her skills as a bookkeeper for a property management firm then for an independent accountant.

Dude had many roles in her lifetime – wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, & friend. She was an excellent cook, seamstress, & bookkeeper. She loved sewing and crafting projects, reading, singing, reality TV shows, and spending time with the little ones in the family. She was a genuine, one-of-a-kind, generous-hearted woman. Everyone who met her loved her no-nonsense ways and salt-of-the-earth language. Over her 95 years she enriched many lives with a home-cooked meal, a hand-made craft, or a naughty poem.

She was preceded in death by all her 6 siblings, husband Andy, daughter Barb, and a grandson, Ryan. Surviving are her daughter Becky and son Tim (Deb), 4 grandchildren - Serena, Braska, Patrick, and Ian - and several great-grandchildren.

A memorial gathering is planned for Sunday, December 18, 2022, from 1:00 – 5:00 pm at Sherwood Lake Club, 6910 SW Fountaindale Rd, Topeka, KS 66614. Feel free to stop by during that time. Interment of ashes will follow on Monday morning at Mt. Calvary Cemetery [Trompeter section 290], 801 SW Westchester Road, Topeka, KS 66606.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of Dude's favorite causes: to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the American Lung Association.