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Skilling to attend services for Lay

Funerals to be held in Aspen, Houston; burial to be in Colo.

News Staff And Wire Reports

Published July 8, 2006 at midnight

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Enron Corp. founder Ken Lay will be buried in Aspen after Houston "broke his heart," said the pastor who will officiate at Lay's funeral.

"He probably didn't have the best memories of Houston lately," said the Rev. William A. Lawson, pastor emeritus of Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

Lay was saddened, Lawson said, because many people in Houston ignored his civic achievements and focused on his role in Enron's downfall.

Lay died of a massive heart attack on Wednesday while renting a home in Old Snowmass, near Aspen. He was awaiting sentencing on federal fraud charges stemming from Enron's collapse, which wiped out more than 5,000 jobs and $1 billion in employee pensions.

Lawson will speak Sunday in Aspen at a private memorial service for Lay's family. He said Lay's remains will be cremated and buried in Aspen. Another service will be held Wednesday in Houston.

Family and friends, including co-defendant Jeffrey Skilling, will attend both memorial services.

"The Lay family asks that their privacy be respected as they mourn the loss of their husband, father, grandfather and brother," Kimberly's statement said.

Kimberly added Friday that attendance at both services will be restricted to friends and family.

Skilling, the former Enron CEO, planned to attend both services with his wife, Rebecca Carter, said Skilling's lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli.

"Jeff and Rebecca will be attending both, as will I," he said.

Rebecca Carter was a corporate secretary at Enron before she married Skilling.

Lay died six weeks after he and Skilling, 52, were convicted in May of defrauding Enron investors and employees through repeated lies about the company's financial health before the energy company crumbled into bankruptcy protection in December 2001.

Both men were to be sentenced Oct. 23 and faced decades in prison. That sentencing date - and the prospect of lengthy prison time - still stands for Skilling.

Lay's death allows his lawyers to ask the court to vacate his conviction for fraud and conspiracy in the scandal that left thousands jobless and wiped out billions from investors. That would thwart the government's bid to seize $43.5 million from Lay, but his assets could still be targeted in civil litigation from shareholders and others.

The former corporate celebrity maintained that he was innocent of fraud and conspiracy.

Lay's lengthy paid obituary, published Friday in the Houston Chronicle, said he and Linda would have celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary Monday.

Lay is survived by his wife, two children, three stepchildren, 12 grandchildren and two sisters.