Betty Ray McCain

Betty Landon Ray McCain (born Betty Landon Ray; February 23, 1931 – November 23, 2022) was an American politician and political strategist. She was the North Carolina Secretary of Cultural Resources during Governor Jim Hunt's administration and was the first woman to chair the North Carolina Democratic Party. She was also the first woman named to the state's Advisory Budget Committee. As Secretary of Cultural Resources, McCain opened the North Carolina Museum of History, rededicated , and secured funding for the excavation of the Queen Anne's Revenge. She received the North Carolina Award in 2009 and was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.

Early life and family McCain was born Betty Landon Ray on February 23, 1931 in Faison, North Carolina, to Horace Ray, an attorney and former school principal from Yancey County, and Mary Perrett Ray, a school teacher from Faison. Her maternal grandfather, Sergeant Thomas Perrett, served in the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and was shot three times during the Battle of Gettysburg. Through her mother, McCain is related to U.S. Congressman John M. Faison. The women in McCain's family had been attending Saint Mary's for generations including her grandmother, Eloise Faison Perrett, and six of her grandaunts. She was elected president of her junior class, vice president of her senior class, and president of Granddaughter's Club her senior year.

In 1982 she was a chief lobbyist for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. As secretary, she opened the North Carolina Museum of History, celebrated the dedication of the , excavating the Queen Anne's Revenge, and opened the Betty McCain Gallery in Raleigh. When opening the museum of history, McCain organized a women's exhibit that included pictures of suffragettes who were relatives of McCain. the North Carolina Arts Society, and the North Carolina Symphony Society. McCain secured major funding for the building of Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and securing additional land for the North Carolina Museum of Art.

McCain served four terms on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, first elected in 1987, and was the first woman to serve on the Advisory Budget Commission. She declined a request to run for the United States Senate in 1990, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

McCain also served on the Board of Visitors for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and on the Board of Trustees of PBS North Carolina.

Personal life and death She married Dr. John L. McCain in an Episcopal ceremony, officiated by Bishop Tom Wright of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina, in 1955. They lived in Virginia before moving to Wilson, North Carolina, where her husband worked at Wilson Memorial Hospital,

Awards McCain was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the General Alumni Association and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of North Carolina. She also received the North Carolina Award. In 2001, she received the Design Guild Award from the North Carolina State University College of Design. McCain was inducted into the North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2018, she was a recipient of the North Carolina Museum of History Foundation Philanthropy Award.