Betty McCain Retires from First Colony Foundation Board of Directors

We bid a fond farewell to Betty McCain, who is retiring from the board after serving since its inception.

Her extraordinary energy, intelligence, commitment, and good humor has called her to lend her time and talents to statewide service and beyond, including as chair and in leadership positions in the North Carolina Medical Alliance, the NC Democratic Party, and four terms on the UNC System Board of Governors, and, on behalf of her beloved UNC-Chapel Hill, chairing its General Alumni Association, the Center for Public Television, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In 1993, Gov. Jim Hunt appointed Betty to serve in North Carolina’s Executive Cabinet as Secretary of Cultural Resources, where she served for two terms and which during her tenure experienced the opening of the N.C. Museum of History, the discovery and recovery of Blackbeard’s ship The Queen Anne’s Revenge, the reclamation of North Carolina’s original signed copy of the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, restorations in its revitalized system of State Historic Sites, technological advances in the state’s archives and library system, and program growth at the N.C. Symphony and N.C. Museum of Art.

We have been honored by Betty’s presence on the board over these 18 years. She will now have more time to spend with her two children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Edward Clay Swindell Joins the Board of Directors

A recent new member of the board is Edward Clay Swindell. Clay is a recognized expert on the subject of Carolina Algonquins. He formerly served as Collections Specialist and Assistant Curator at the Museum of the Albemarle. He is now the Chief Archaeologist for the US Navy, Mid-Atlantic Region, and serves as our prehistoric scholar.