Hometown Rankin - June & July 2017

Moving to Rankin County was a wonderful thing for Lay,
who said she recalls that that the family’s home in Forest Hill
didn’t have running water. “The commodes didn’t flush and we
had to bathe in a number two wash tub. In the house out in the
country, we had a real bathroom with a real bathtub. It was like
having my own indoor swimming pool! The first day we were in
the house I got in the tub and stayed in it all day until I was
shriveled up like a prune and my mother made me get out.”
She loved living in the country. “Our house and dairy barn
were near where River Oaks is today. The hospital sits on what
was once our cow pasture.” The family went through
the Easter flood of 1979, and unfortunately, many
family photos were lost in the disaster.
Today, Lay lives with her husband outside of Brandon. The
family continues to have business interests on Lakeland Drive.
Folks who drive in the area frequently are familiar with
Layfair Drive, named after the Lay family, and they own Layfair
Shopping Center. “I still drive up and down Lakeland Drive all
the time. It’s still so unreal to me that there has been so much
change in the area during my lifetime!” n
Hometown Rankin • 77