In 1944, with the help of Dr. Paul V. Murray, Cain planned the new American School located, with a limited enrollment of 1,500 students, on a 125 acre plot in Tacubaya, donated by old-time colony resident S. Bolling Wright. Wright became President of the School Board. To accommodate the overflow of the American School, Dr. Cain founded and built Colegio Columbia, located across from the present American School. Colegio Columbia was founded in 1938 to teach English to non-English speaking students, and was opened in the building erected by Dr. Cain at San Louis Potosí where the Clases de Inglés and Clases Comerciales now operate. Elena Picazo de Murray, wife of Dr. Paul V. Murray, was instrumental in developing the English classes.
“In 1940 Drs. Cain and Murray founded Mexico City College to further education for the graduates of the American High School and to make a center for continuous study for visiting Americans. MCC was located in the American High School building until 1946. He served as first President until June 11, 1953, when Dr. Murray became President.
“In 1944 Cain was the Potentate of the Shrinners when Mexico’s ex-President Alemán was initiasted into the local chapter. Cain led the campaign to get the North American Shriners to establish in Mexico what was their sixteenth hospital for crippled children. He became Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mexican hospital that today (1957) has 30 beds and performs 200 operations on poor crippled children of Mexico.”
The Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, has named a building after Drs. Murray and Cain. Dr. Murray’s son, Paul V. Murray, Jr., Ph.D. and his two sisters were invited, all expenses paid, as guests to the Dedication (March 1, 1998). As Paul Murray wrote, “The Inauguration was truly a supreme and far reaching gesture by UDLAP in recognition of its heritage (that) . . honored his father’s (and Dr. Cain’s) vision.”
(Adapted from the MCC Collegian, Vol. 20, May 30, 1957, and private correspondence.)
