Baker City, Baker County, Oregon
Myrtle Yvonna Lay, 91, died Aug. 22, 2005, at Medford Rehabilitation and Health Center in Medford.
A graveside service will be held for Mrs. Lay at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Mountain View Cemetery in Ashland. The Litwiller-Simonsen Funeral Home in Ashland will handle the arrangements. Chaplain Paul Hagedorn of the Providence Hospital Hospice Care Unit will officiate.
Myrtle was born April 19, 1914, to Guy and Jane Inman, whose parents were early immigrants to Eastern Oregon from the Midwest. She spent most of her childhood in or near Baker City and was a graduate of Baker High School.
On Christmas Eve of 1933, Myrtle married Deshler (Dash) Lay, who lived on his parents’ farm near Medical Springs. After a few years of farming in Union and Baker counties, the couple moved to Haines, where Dash was employed by the Haines Commercial Equipment Company. In 1956, Myrtle and Dash moved to Baker, where he worked for Levinger’s Rexall Drug Store.
Myrtle worked a couple of years as a cook for the Haines Grade School, but for the most part her occupation in life was that of a very competent and caring housewife and mother.
In September of 2002, Myrtle and Dash moved from Baker City to Medford to be near their son and his wife, who are long-time Ashland residents. They resided at the Fountain Plaza retirement community and celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in 2003. Dash passed away in April of 2004.
Myrtle was a marvelous cook and dedicated homemaker. She was very artistic, and well known for her hand-painted and fired floral china plates. She was always very well-liked and appreciated for her helpful nature and sense of family. Myrtle was hard working, and a kind and loving wife, mother and grandmother. Everyone who has been touched by Myrtle will feel a great loss.
Myrtle is survived by her son, Kerry Lay and his wife, Janice; grandchildren, Geoffrey Lay of Tualatin, Bradley Lay of Phoenix, Ariz., and Christopher Lay of Shenzhen, China; five great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters and two brothers.
Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of choice.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, August 26, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor