Obituary of Bernard Cain

Bernard L Cain passed away April 15, 2010, one day short of his 94th birthday. Myrtle Laurene (Hanner), his wife of 67 years was nearby. With him, too, were his close family, son, Bernie, and daughter, Brenda, daughter-in-law, Barbara, and son-in-law, Michael Knue. Cody Rae Knue, his only granddaughter, spent meaningful time with him just a few days before he passed away. Born April 16, 1916, near Tyrone, OK, the oldest son of eight children, he lived through the worst hard time of the Dust Bowl years. Bernard brought his young family from Kansas to the high plains of Colorado in 1950 settling on an old homestead near Matheson. For the next 56 years this place, anchored by Pike’s Peak directly to the west and big Colorado sky overhead, was his heart’s home. The two-room soddy, by his hands, grew into the family home. Around it the wheat land and pastures he caringly nourished yielded up nature’s harvests. When he was 89, Bernard was still tending cattle. Drilling his last wheat crop that same year, he later watched it combined with undimmed exuberance. Bernard’s life’s work was as a master craftsman. He designed and built homes in the Simla and Limon area. In the late 1960s he and Myrtle Laurene took on consecutive custom homes for siblings and good friends in Oklahoma and Kansas, building there until retirement in 1977. They were early Colorado ‘commuters’ - working out of state and driving back on weekends to care for the home and yard they took such pride in. If asked, it’s likely Bernard would say his work of art was his daughter’s home in Los Angeles. The remodel was undertaken with his son in 1989 - late in his working life perhaps but with a lifetime of skill to give and with the energy of a much younger man. Bernard knew he was good with his hands in high school and chose to complete his last year with additional training in Cushing, OK, where he graduated in 1934. Times being what they were and opportunities at a premium, he moved to Liberal, KS. There he worked in Smith’s Drugstore. Myrtle Laurene agreed with her dad when he described Bernard as ‘the most handsome guy in town.’ Bernard took notice of her, too, and after a bit knew he’d found his life’s love. Eloping, it was three AM on May 13, 1942, before a Baptist minister in Dodge City finally married them giving them just 24 hours together before Bernard was shipped out with the Army Corp of Engineers. Serving as a Foreman of Construction in North Africa and for the invasion of Italy, and later in Germany, he was discharged as Master Sergeant. Now thanks to the army, his building repertoire had grown. He could design, requisition scarce materials and manage construction of transport bridges. An early indication of his practicality and resourcefulness was the model bridge Bernard carried with him from site to site - saving a lot of describing and plan sketching when time was of the essence. In a classic version of the WWII story, Bernard came back to Myrtle Laurene, at last, three years later when the war was finally over. Returning to Liberal in the summer of 1945, Bernard worked at the Ravenscroft & Kelly clothing store. Restive at being confined indoors, he and Myrtle Laurene decided to look for a piece of ‘good ground’ in Colorado. Encouraged by Opal Skinner, Myrtle Laurene’s sister, and her husband Adrian, who were already settled there, they found that good ground. And there was that big space all around. Bernard took in the 360 degree view, he saw only the land and the sky. The ground was good, but the soddy and minimal improvements were poor. Even so, Bernard moved in on April 1, 1950, with his wife and two small children. In a bit of April Fool’s irony, they found the REA had by-passed their place leaving them without electric service. Service came in a couple of years; Bernard expanded the soddy; Bernie and Brenda grew up and finished high school. All the while, Bernard continued with the building and design work he loved. After retirement he spent 30 years at the hobby that became his passion and interest - raising cattle and growing wheat - content at home and on his land. Self-taught in many ways, precise always, generous with his skill and immaculate in all his hands-on endeavors, Bernard was truly a man who took pride in all he did. It was his philosophy that local businesses were to be supported. Wherever he built he purchased materials from local suppliers. Joining the Simla Methodist Church in 1956, he & his wife were dedicated members for 40+ years. Bernard found pleasure in his neighbors and friends and their children. Brenda says he was always the greeter, meeting new families, taking over something Myrtle Laurene had baked. Who could resist those bright blue eyes and the genuine smile he offered? In the early Colorado years he and Myrtle Laurene, with neighbors, drove into Colorado Springs for square dance lessons and came back home to share new steps with other couples at garage dances or at community dances at the White House in Simla. Card games - especially canasta - were always good fun, too. Over the years, time with his growing and, then, grown children, their spouses and his granddaughter meant good times at home…long walks along the fences, to the windmill or through the wheat, games of pitch or dominoes, popcorn and apples, naps under the big tree out front, indulging in absolutely anything Myrtle Laurene baked. Or good fun with his children and granddaughter on winter-time trips to much warmer Los Angeles. There, he continued to work with his son, Bernie, through the 90s - always with the same perfect craftsmanship. In May 2008, Bernard and Myrtle Laurene traveled together to LA for their granddaughter, Cody Rae’s high school graduation. It was his final trip there and he quietly reveled in the company of friends. Bernard is also survived by Glenn Cain, brother, of Tyrone, OK; Opal Skinner, sister-in-law, of Hugo, CO; his nephews & nieces Larry & Grace Skinner, A.T. Boone & Carolyn Skinner, Connie & Conway Diffee, Marjorie & Dick Faucett, and Royal & Tish Austin; also numerous other nieces and nephews. He leaves, too, a lifetime of loving neighbors and friends.