WILSON, N.C. (AP) — A memorial service for Betty Ray McCain, a longtime North Carolina Democratic Party activist and counselor to former Gov. Jim Hunt, will be held this weekend.
Hunt Cabinet Secretary McCain, the first woman to serve as chair of the state Democratic Party, died at the Wilson home on Nov. 23, according to Joyner’s Funeral Home and Crematorium. She was 91 years old.
A native of Duplin County, who moved to Wilson with her husband in the 1950s, McCain participated in Terry Sanford’s 1960 gubernatorial campaign. Hunt, who also lives in Wilson County, met McCain through Democratic activism, and she guided them as they worked on projects and campaigns over the decades.
Her political career included leading the Democratic Party of Women in North Carolina and serving as chairman of the state party from 1976 to 1979. McCain was named Secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources by Hunt in 1993, a role she held until her third and her fourth term as governor. .
McCain’s secretarial years included the opening of the independent North Carolina History Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the discovery of the wreckage of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, in Beaufort Inlet. She has also served multiple terms on the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina and on many boards and committees.
“Betty McCain has been the most influential person in defending public schools and the University of North Carolina in recent history,” Hunt told Wilson last week. She’s been my right hand man for a while, and I consider her one of our state’s greatest leaders.”
In a tweet, current Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper called McCain “a trailblazer for women and a powerful force for good in the arts, education and public service of North Carolina.”
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11:00 am at Wilson’s First Presbyterian Church.
