My maiden name is Vayo.

Growing up, it was nearly always mispronounced as VIE-oh. We’d quickly respond, “Rhymes with mayo” and hope for the best.

It’s an Americanized version of the French name Veilleux (pronounced vay-YEUX; that second syllable rhymes with deux, the French word for two).

Vayo is not a common name. When we see it in use, my brothers and I pay attention and always wonder if we’re related.

Yesterday, brother Bill sent us a link.

He texted: At first I thought this was toilet paper!

Middle brother Dave added that there’s a singer in Argentina who goes by the name Vayo.

We’re everywhere!

Harry’s wife, Linda, recently sent me a note that they had visited the Vayo Meditation Garden recently at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. It wasn’t their first visit, in fact they’d asked Dad in the past if he recognized the names on the plaque as distant relatives.

He didn’t.

Knowing my interest in our family tree, Linda correctly guessed I might want to look into this, especially since they live in Maine and Dad’s parents were from Maine.

Yes, it turns out we’re kin. In fact, Dad’s father was Reginald’s first cousin. That means great-grandpa George Vayo was a brother to Reginald’s father, Frank. (As a side note, Reginald’s mother’s maiden name was Marie Antoinette Dansereau – doesn’t get more French than that!)

Reginald Vayo was born in 1909 and lived to be 94 years old. His wife of 69 years, Christine, passed just two months later, also in 2004.

Reginald and Christine both grew up in South Portland, Maine, and went to high school there just three years apart.

Here’s a 1928 photo of Reginald Vayo:

According to this block in his high-school yearbook, he also went by Reggie or even Reg:

Christine was three years younger. Here’s her senior portrait:

And here’s her yearbook blurb:

Reggie and Chris married in 1934 and had three daughters. During the Second World War, they lived in Washington, D.C. while Reginald worked for the War Production Board, which was in charge of paper and craft production for the United States.

After the war, the family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, when Reginald accepted a job with the St. Regis Paper Company. He spent the rest of his career there, eventually rising to the position of Executive Vice President of the International Division.

Upon retirement, the couple headed back to Maine, and settled in Sawyer Island. One of their hobbies was gardening.

Sawyer Island is located close to the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, which began work on the Reginald & Christine Vayo Meditation Garden the year after their passing, following a donation from their family.

Here’s my oldest brother Harry, visiting the garden in 2009:

Here’s the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden’s description of the garden, from their website: To complete the garden, a large central basin carved by Plymouth, Maine, sculptor David Holmes was placed to unify stone, water, and sky. Carved from a soapstone-like rock called Ellsworth schist, the boulder used was found in a blueberry field near Mount Desert Island, Maine.

In case you’re still wondering about that Vayo musician from Argentina, we’ll end this with a sample of his work.

It seems his specialty is the tango. Given that Vayo is his first name, we’re relatively certain (pun intended) that he’s not another of our long-lost cousins.

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