After seven years of marriage, on October 30, 1974, Phil filed for divorce. The filing does not provide a specific cause, stating only that the marriage was “irretrievably broken.” Through his attorney, Phil proposed a settlement and child-support plan. Because Nancy never went to court or filed a motion to contest the documents filed by Phil, his attorney successfully argued that the court issue an order of default accepting Phil’s proposal.7
James Kenneth Elmer was an appraiser working for a bank where Nancy was working as part of a public relations campaign. Jim went to a Christmas party in December 1974, which Nancy also attended, where they were introduced by a mutual friend. Jim isn’t sure if he’d call his initial reaction love at first sight, but said “It was certainly interesting. I certainly took notice.”
It was a fairly quick courtship—a matter of a few months. The first time Jim met Layne and Liz was at Nancy’s mother’s home. “One evening, we were going to go out. The kids were there. At that age, they’re just real delightful. Nothing spectacular happened, but that’s when I first met them.” Jim didn’t think the kids understood the idea that he was dating their mother at the time. His impressions of Layne: “He’s a sensitive child, smart kid. Certainly loved his sister and mom.” As the relationship became serious, they talked to Layne and Liz about it.
On June 13, 1975, two months after Nancy’s divorce from Phil was finalized, she married Jim Elmer. Nancy would eventually take her new husband’s surname. At the time, Layne was two months shy of his eighth birthday. In addition to Layne and Liz, Ken, Jim’s son from his first marriage, was added to the mix. Of his parents’ divorce and his mother’s remarriage, Layne would say years later, “No deep, dark secrets there. I remember sometimes wondering where my dad was, but most of the time I was too busy running around and playing.”8
Ken’s parents had divorced when he was three years old. A few years later, they both remarried within one or two weeks of each other. Under the visitation terms worked out by his parents, Ken had a schedule where he would see his father every weekend, as well as during summers and holidays for extended visits. “Layne and I got together and got along very quickly. Liz was a year younger than me, so she was about four, he was probably seven turning eight, and I was five turning six. So it was a good age. I remember we picked on Liz quite a bit in life, but that’s what older brothers do,” Ken said.
Jim offered a similar recollection. “I think they became reasonably close. You’ve got three little kids. You’re always going to have some type of dynamic and so forth. But by and large, we did things with the three of them and kept everybody involved.”
“Layne was always a gentle kid, a kind kid—smart in his own way. Not school smart, but certainly incredibly intelligent, as we learned later in life,” Ken added. Layne played T-ball in elementary school, Jim said, but didn’t show much interest in sports as he got older. Ken recalled watching Seattle Seahawks football games with his father on TV, during which Layne would get bored and leave the room. Academically, Jim described Layne as “a reasonably good student. I don’t think he was straight-A, but he seemed to like school. He had his group of friends.” He also noted, “I don’t remember any drama with him being in school until he started to grow up.”
Though Layne’s serious interest in music wouldn’t develop until a few years later, one noteworthy event happened in October 1975, when Elton John was on tour and was scheduled to perform two nights at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Jim wanted to go to the show. He doesn’t remember how this came about, but he took Layne to what would be his first concert.9 As the lights went down before the start of the show, people inside the venue began smoking marijuana. Layne looked around, looked at Jim, and asked “Dad, do you smell that stuff?”
As far as Layne’s impressions of the show, Jim said, “He was certainly not bored. He certainly enjoyed the music. It was sold out. You had a lot of people, well-behaved, there was excitement. He was just taking it all in at that age.”
In the first year or two after Nancy married Jim Elmer, Phil would come by occasionally to see Layne and Liz. Eventually, Phil started spending progressively less time with them, leading to a major decision within the family.