Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? 
For years, we’ve heard how Ken Lay’s friends abandoned him due to the Enron criminal case. He sold off his Aspen properties, reportedly to pay legal fees. He had a hard time finding witnesses for his defense. But Aspen was where he wanted to spend his last months before entering jail for a possibly decades-long sentence and the Judge granted that wish. Ken and Linda Lay have been staying in a rental property at Snowmass, trying not to count down the days till his sentencing. Last week he died of heart failure.
Yesterday, his friends re-emerged, 100 strong, to fill the Aspen Chapel for his memorial service. Even his co-defendant, Jeff Skilling, and Skilling’s lawyer were in attendance. It was a religious service, fitting for the religious and philanthropic man Ken Lay was during his lifetime. There was scant mention of Enron.
Under looming clouds and periodic showers, attendees entered and left the chapel behind a screen of security guards’ umbrellas. Lay’s family members entered in an entourage of three SUVs led by a Pitkin County deputy.
….Others in attendance included Richard Kinder, chairman and CEO of energy company Kinder Morgan, and Sheldon Erikson, chairman and CEO of the energy-equipment company Cameron. Other guests included Aspen friends like I.V. Pabst, Lay’s neighbor who rented the Old Snowmass home where he died.
Some of his mourners spoke to the press. Among the comments were these:
“It was very moving,” said Fred Malek, chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Thayer Capital Partners and a former advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the first President Bush. “It brought back the philanthropic man that he was.”
….”I think in many ways it was supposed to be a celebration of Ken Lay’s life,” said Shelby Hodge, society columnist for the Houston Chronicle. “The Lays loved Aspen. This is where they chose to spend their days before the final sentencing, and it turned out to be their final days.”
….”It’s the crowd I totally expected to see,” Hodge said, glimpsing mourners as they entered. “Friends that didn’t desert them and people who have maintained a loyal friendship with the family.”
From Lay’s close friend, former Enron executive Mark Seid:
Asked about the message of the service, one man said, “Ken’s with Jesus,” as he stepped into a Hummer with Texas license plates. “If I have a service like that, I’ll be a blessed man.
Due to legal precepts, Lay’s death prior to his sentencing voids his conviction. As if it never happened. So he died without official stain. Is he better off? Only he knows now. But, I’m sure his family believes he is in a better place than the prison that was in store for him.
His last weeks could not have been pleasant, facing the prospect of decades in jail and the separation from his wife, children and life as he knew it. The Enron victims may be angry, as if they were cheated of seeing Lay receive a just punishment, but from my vantage point, he paid the ultimate price for his misdeeds. He certainly didn’t get off easy.
R.I.P. Ken Lay. The jury said you did some bad things, but according to those who know you, you also did many good things, for your community and your family. According to your religion, you will now meet your maker and savior. I hope your critics and those who feel betrayed by you will be content to let them be your final judge. My sincere condolences to your family.
Posted 7/10/2006 at 8:36 am by Jeralyn Merritt
Crime :: Permalink :: Comments (16)
Ken Lay’s Funeral in Aspen
100 of Ken Lay’s friends and family filled the Aspen Chapel yesterday for his memorial service. I wrote a detailed post on it over at 5280.com, which I’m sure Lay haters won’t like. It ends: His last weeks could…
Final Judgment
As Ken Lay is buried, Jeralyn Merritt isn’t dancing on his grave: “The Enron victims may be angry, as if they were cheated of seeing Lay receive a just punishment, but from my vantage point, he paid the ultimate price…
He’s with Jesus? I doubt it.
Watch ‘The Smartest Guys in the Room’ and talk to me about ethics and christian values on the part of Ken Lay.
“It was a religious service, fitting for the religious and philanthropic man Ken Lay was during his lifetime.”
yeah, what a saint he was, and so damn charitable.
I hope he rots in Hell.
Osama bin Laden has a better chance of getting into heaven than Ken Lay does. Here’s hoping that they both rot in hell
We will soon know if there’s a HELL because Ken Lay and all his Texas buds and most of the TEXAN Washington DC BUDS will sure be burning there in the near future
I think Ken Lay got off to easy. He should have rotted in a dirty jail cell, but once again, he somehow scams his way out, and yes his death is a way out. I think the family should be forced to sell everything, come forward with the $10,000,000.000 insurance money and anything else, pit it in a big pot and pay people back. They should live in poverty as Ken Lay did to the others. Rest in hell.
I get a kick out of Ken Lay being called a philanthropist or a Christian. He was neither. Any money
he denoted to charity was stolen from others. He was nothing but a crook. He may have claimed to be a Christian, but he obviously didn’t think “Thou shalt not steal” applied to him. He may have said he was a religous man but he was a phony, like so many self-rightous
zealots out there. Talk is cheap.
Good riddance Ken Lay.
How sad! Don’t you people know that God forgives! You know, good people make mistakes too! I happen to know for a fact that Ken Lay was a philanthropist. I worked for a company that saw first hand his charitable side. He is facing his ultimate Judge and I know that he will be pardoned because before all this scandal, he was a good man. My prayers are with his wife, children and grandchildren.
Cindy, don’t you know by now that there is no God??? God’s were created to control us and our thoughts. Seems like it is working on ya!!!
But besides that, how come no one is questioning the fact that there is NO BODY!!!! He was cremated in Colorado. No body in that. I don’t buy this heart attack story one bit!!!!
I have researched and found that there were TWO services, MEMORIAL services. One in Colorado and one in Houston. A MEMORIAL is a service WITHOUT the remains present!!!
I am sure Mr. Lay is alive and well. Would be interesting to follow where his wife turns up. Would rather see the papparizi following her around than some bimbo in Hollywood.
Bryon Pelzek
Not lookin for redemption, just the truth.
bryonpelzek@hotmail.com
Right on Bryon. No body. Sudden heart attack, then…cremated.
Hmmmm. He finally pulled off the ultimate scam and there’s a portion of Enron’s $67 billion that was “lost” is now in his bank account.
Bet he’s sipping mai tais on his private island right now. Billions can keep you going for a loooooong time.
Ken Lay is alive and well eating chocolate in Switzerland. Contrary to this biased piece of manure news story he is “not with Jesue” if, in fact he is dead, the guy is burning in Hell.
I don’t believe Ken Lay is dead, I think Bush and Cheney got him out of this country to keep him from going to prison, where is his wife now ? Aug 2008
Where is Ken Lay’s wife living?
Ewww, lots-o-good wishes and fine things to say about a sleazy thief. THAT says a bunch for the whole mess of the swine associated with them.
Wasn’t he given a closed casket funeral? I wonder how long it took Bush et al to smuggle him out of the United States of Israel and into Israel?