Gastineau family at the Lay family reunion in Indiana. Date is unknown. (retrieved from personal collection)
A letter from Vera Gastineau:
“ Our main achievement is to be married to one man fifty five years! Ha! When Jerrel was teaching in Hawaii, we went over spent ten days, lived on top of a big mountain overlooking Oahu. He lived on the beach all summer. He took us to see the 25 anniversary of Pearl Harbor. We saw the big American cemetery, sugar cane fields and pineapples. I make every child and grandchild a hand quilted quilt. When we would go to Science Hill, I remember Pop Lay (Walter Lay) telling grandchildren stories. On time he told the kids that he had lost his teeth while fishing. He had caught a fish which had two sets of teeth. Another time, he lost his spectacles and now the fish wore glasses. Pop would get up from his rocking chair and hobble through the house say, “Oh! I’ve got a bone in my leg!” He would cackle and laugh about it. The children would sit and listen to him for hours. He was always making up tales.”