Born in Wellington in 1922,[REF] Salas was one of four children of philanthropist James Lawrence Hay and Davidina Mertel Hay (née Gunn); her siblings included Sir Hamish Hay and Sir David Hay [REF].
On 17 May 1941 she married Ian Halliday Webster at St Ninian's Presbyterian Church, Riccarton,[REF] but he died in 1943 from a sting to the neck that became infected [REF].