Cay was born in Savannah, Georgia, on October 10, 1914, to John Sr. and Caroline Elizabeth Palmer.
[2] The two families were neighbors on Atlantic Avenue in Savannah's Ardsley Park.
They had four children: Caroline Hilton (born 1940), Barbara Lachlison (1941), John Eugene III (1945) and Elizabeth Mason (1949).
"[2] He released his book Ward Allen: Savannah River Market Hunter in 1958, and the same year won the Dunlap Award.
[1][2] Cay died on October 3, 1989, in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, from a brain tumor.