1. “The boy on the left was my older son, Ward III, who died in an auto accident at 18. My son Carter, on the right, is 39. They are two sons from my first marriage. My youngest son is about to turn 9.”
2. “The red button says $200 million, for when we hit that mark in a campaign for Culver [Academies, a college-prep school in Indiana and Lay’s alma mater]. We’re now at $300 million. We got a $50 million matching gift, which made a world of difference.”
3. “This was my dad’s desk. My guess is it’s probably 60 years old. The one I had was pretty run-of-the mill and, after his death, I felt like it was keeping a tradition in the family—so much of my business at that time was looking after his business. Hopefully one of my sons will do the same.”
4. “That’s Robie Vaughn on top of Mt. Everest. We went to Culver and are on the board of trustees together. When he climbed to the top, he displayed flags from SMU, the University of Texas, and Culver Military Academy, where we went to prep school. The green one, I’m going to guess, is Brook Hollow Golf Club. He hit a golf ball from the top of Everest. I think that put him in the golf hall of fame.”
5. “That’s another Culver thing. The ‘T’ stands for troop, which is the Black Horse Troop, the mounted troop at Culver. The block of wood was cut from the indoor riding hall, one of the largest in the world.”
6. “That’s just my opinion about some of the things that come across my desk. It says ‘Take a number,’ but the only number there is one—on the pin of the grenade.”
7. “I bought a model of Air Force One. I got it when I was on it. That was rather impressive. It was brand new; George H. W. Bush was president then. His first ride on it was to Dallas.”
