Lay, Jim

Jim Lay, an International Mission Board missionary whose wife Elaine is a Birmingham native, died Feb. 22. He was 46.

Lay, along with his wife and three children, had served for nearly four years in Africa when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2007. He was forced to leave quickly in order to receive treatment. In the time since, the Lays have lived in a missionary residence in Birmingham provided by Lakeside Baptist Church while Lay was treated at Princeton Baptist Medical Center.

A graduate of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., he was an “army brat” but had adopted Alabama as home, his father Bob Lay said.
He is survived by Elaine and children Josh, Anna and Luke. (TAB)