Vanessa J. Leite, PhD., passed away on April 7, 2023, after a short, yet courageous, battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loved ones throughout her battle and at her passing. Her strength and grace during her cancer fight was profound and she never once complained or felt sorry for herself. Vanessa was born on May 16, 1978, to Armin and Elizabeth (Unruh) Klassen in Filadelfia, Paraguay. During her early years, you could always find her playing outside in the dirt with the dogs, playing with her friends, visiting at her grandparents’ house, getting treats from Oma, fixing something with Opa, or swimming in their pool (once we got all the frogs out of course). She had a wonderful childhood in Paraguay. In 1983, Vanessa, her mom, and her sisters, Tanya and Olivia, moved to Newton, KS. After living there a short time, her mom met and married Alcione (Al) Leite in 1984. This union brought Vanessa a brother and a favorite playmate, Dustin Leite. In 1986, Al adopted all three of the girls, and we all became the Leite Family. Throughout her life, Vanessa would make fast friends with anyone. Her sense of humor and shenanigans always made her someone that people gravitated towards. Her laugh was one of the BEST laughs ever and if you could get her laughing, it made you feel like you were on top of the world. The loss of her is felt deeply by hundreds of people, all who felt an intense connection to her. Vanessa loved to play sports, especially soccer, and was always stronger and faster than most of the boys. In fact, there were times, as a child, that people thought she was a boy because of how she dressed and behaved. Some of her favorite things to do were to ride her banana seat bike around town, play kick the can, climb trees, beat her siblings in Super Mario, make forts, and go mess around down by Sand Creek and hope that we didn’t fall in. She also enjoyed watching scary movies while one of her sisters sat on the stairs as a lookout for her parents, so she c