October 8, 2007

Florence Lay marks 100th year

Florence R. Lay celebrated her 100th birthday on Sept. 30.

Among those in attendance were her sons and their wives: David and Lillian Lay of Annapolis, Md., and Steven and Ann Lay of Cleveland. Both sons are university mathematics professors: David at the University of Maryland and Steven at Lee University. Lay has five grandchildren.

She was born in Bountiful, Utah. At the age of 13, she moved to Los Angeles, Calif. She received her bachelor of arts at Aurora College in Aurora, Ill., and her master of arts in library science at the University of Minnesota.

After graduate school she returned to California where she worked as a children’s librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library. Her deep love of children and books has continued throughout her life.

In 1940 she married L. Clark Lay, who became a professor of mathematics education at California State University at Fullerton.

In 1989 they retired to Florida. After Clark’s death, she moved to Cleveland in 2000 to be near her son, Steven, and his wife.

For several years she volunteered at the First Baptist Church library in Cleveland. Wherever she has lived, people have been blessed by her cheerful spirit and encouraged by her faith, her sons said.