Betty B. Cain

Betty Brown Cain died Sunday, March 4, 2007, at Tuomey Regional Medical Center in Sumter.

She was born April 30, 1923, in Sumter, the fifth child of Mildred Hall Brown and Robert Tillman Brown Sr. She was a lifelong member of Trinity Methodist Church in Sumter and also a member of the Trinity Fellowship Sunday School Class. Mrs. Cain had a strong faith in God that she passed on to her children.

She graduated from Tuomey Hospital School of Nursing, with honors, in 1944. In 1947, she became a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health (Public Health Nursing). She was a registered nurse for 34 years with the Health Department in Sumter, later called the Department of Health and Environmental Control. Her initial area of responsibility was training and supervising midwives to provide those services in rural areas that would otherwise be lacking for home deliveries common to that day. Later, tuberculosis care was her primary area of responsibility in a time when tuberculosis patients were isolated from the rest of society.

She loved to read, fish with her late husband, “Bunk” Cain, watch “Tarheel basketball” on television and she loved all of her family and friends. She was well known for her candor and honesty and will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She is survived by two children, a daughter, Emily Cain Shuman (Jack Shuman Jr.) of Columbia and a son, John Dwight Cain (Pamela Wells Cain) of Lexington; and by two grandchildren, Alison Cain Shuman and Natalie Wilken Shuman. She is also survived by several sisters and brothers, William Hall Brown (Linette Lindler Brown) of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Mildred Brown Shaw (Ervin Bartow Shaw) of Sumter, Robert T. Brown Jr. (Jeanette Klarp Brown) of Manning, Alice Brown Beaty (Robert W. Beaty) of Sumter, Jane Brown Jeffress (Charles H. Jeffress) of Alexandria, La., and Murr Hall Brown (Pat Wilson Brown) of Sumter; and many loving nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by another brother, Thomas Edward Brown (Johnnie Husband Brown).

Mrs. Cain’s late husband, John N. “Bunk” Cain, is survived by one sister, Emily Cain Fraser of Columbia.

A memorial service was held on Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sumter.

Memorials may be sent to the Solomon’s Home, 620 N. Guignard Drive, Sumter, S.C., 29150 or Trinity United Methodist Church, 226 W. Liberty St., Sumter, S.C. 29150.

Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home and Crematory of Sumter was in charge of the arrangements.