Thelma C. Swain

Thelma Cowey Swain (November 22, 1908 – April 19, 2008) was an American philanthropist. She contributed significant funds to non-profit organizations in Maine and also established scholarships at Middlebury College, Tufts University, and at each of the seven colleges of the Maine Community College System. In 2010, her estate bequeathed $1 million to The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges. She was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.

Early life and marriage She was born Thelma M. Cowey in Chelsea, Maine, the daughter of Stephen R. Cowey and Bessie Kirkwood Cowey. She was an only child. She established a college scholarship for students in the Teen Parent School Program at the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers. She also volunteered weekly at the Maine State Museum in Augusta

Swain endowed several scholarships benefiting Maine students at Middlebury College in Vermont and Tufts University in Massachusetts. She also supported the seven colleges in the Maine Community College System, donating nearly $2 million between 1995 and 2010. She endowed the Thelma C. Swain Scholarship at each of the seven colleges, which is awarded to students in the nursing, residential construction, plumbing, or heating programs; and the Lloyd Duncan Scholarship, established in 1996 at Northern Maine Community College, benefiting seniors in electrical or electronics programs. In 2000 she was honored as Benefactor of the Year for New England by the Council for Resource Development in recognition of her support for Central Maine Community College and the Maine Technical College System. The latter system appointed her an honorary trustee emerita in 2001.

Final years and legacy In 2000 she moved to the Granite Hill Estates in Hallowell, Maine. She died on April 19, 2008, at the age of 99. She was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.