Catherine N. Lay

Catherine Nimitz Lay, the eldest child of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Catherine Freeman Nimitz, died at her home on January 14 at the age of 100. She was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Captain James T. Lay, her eldest son, James T. Lay, Jr., and by her three younger siblings, Chester W. Nimitz, Jr., Nancy Nimitz and Sister Mary Aquinas Nimitz. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Richard and Jean Lay of Wellfleet, her son and daughter-in-law Chester and Marion Lay of Brewster, her daughter-in-law Shirley Lay of Blue Hill, Maine and by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She was born at the Naval Hospital in Brooklyn New York on February 22, 1914. In June of 1920, her father was ordered by the Navy Department to build a de novo submarine base at Pearl Harbor and six year old Catherine, along with her brother Chester and sister Nancy moved with the family to Oahu, where she remembers walking barefoot through cow pastures to attend Punahou school.

Catherine enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley for the spring term when she was just 16. She graduated in 1934 and sailed aboard the President Johnson to Shanghai to join her family who were stationed there when her father commanded the cruiser U. S. S. Augusta.

At a reception in Japan following the death of Fleet Admiral Togo, she met – was enamored by – a young lieutenant, James Lay, then serving under her father on the Augusta. They corresponded thereafter and throughout the war and were married in Washington, D.C., in March of 1945. Of the chance meeting of her future husband at the event for Admiral Togo, Catherine would say “never pass up a good funeral!”

She became chief of the music division of the Washington Public Library and was living with her sister Nancy across the hall from the senior Nimitzes in an apartment on Q Street when Pearl Harbor was attacked. As her father was whisked off to the Navy Department, Catherine put the family cocker spaniel, Freakles, on a leash and took him for a walk around the corner to Massachusetts Avenue. They came upon a crowd of spectators and reporters outside the Japanese embassy watching the employees carting documents out to the lawn and throwing them onto a bonfire. Suddenly, Freakles slipped his collar, ran onto the immaculate grounds of the embassy and committed a “nuisance”. “I have the headlines for tomorrow’s Post”, Catherine announced to her family upon their return: “ADMIRAL’S DOG HURLS DEFIANCE AT NIPPON!”

During the war, Catherine and Nancy sent congratulatory telegrams to their father at Pearl Harbor. One of his favorites arrived shortly after the overwhelming US victory off the island of Truk on February 16th, 1944: “Like Carrie Nation guzzling booze, when man runs over Truk, that’s news!”

Catherine and her three boys traveled from coast to coast during Captain Lay’s 30 year career in the Navy. The family settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where Catherine worked as a librarian in the Newport school system. On May 13, 1972, she christened the nuclear aircraft carrier U. S. S. Nimitz (CVN-68) in Norfolk.

Jim and Catherine retired to Wellfleet in 1974 where she did volunteer work at the library and elementary school. She spent her retirement reading, walking with her best friend, Peg Carter, swimming and enjoying time with her extended family. Until her last days, she continued to enjoy her evening martini, always preceded by her father’s favorite toast from the old English Navy “Here’s to a bloody war or a sickly season!”, the only paths open for promotion back then.

On August 13, 2013, she received the Boston Post Cane from the Town of Wellfleet, an award given to its oldest living resident. She accepted it with grace but told the family in private “You know, I’m not sure I want that damn thing – everyone who receives it dies!!”

The family wants to thank Catherine’s caregivers, especially Melissa Shantz and her daughter Anna.

Donations may be made in her name to the Wellfleet Library.

Services will be private. For online condolences, please visit www.nickrsonfunerals.com