Cain, Jerry Dean
Friends fondly called him “Citizen Cain,” courtroom rivals respectfully called him unflappable, Democrats admiringly called him a Yellow Dog.
Jerry Dean Cain, crowned with trophies from a well spent life, died this morning (Aug. 29, 2024) in Houston after a lengthy illness. He was 86.
Born in Lubbock in 1938 to Alton and Geneva Cain of Tahoka, he showed an early and precocious gift for enterprise, scholastic achievement and enduring friendships.
At age 10, Cain began bagging groceries on Saturdays for $5 a day. “I was rich,” he recalled. Partnering with his sister Lynnetta, they delivered newspapers before school.
At 14, over his parents’ objections, young Cain negotiated a bank loan to buy and groom a Hereford steer that won the grand champion banner in the Lubbock livestock show. The prize money paid his way through the University of Texas. Cain continued to be gainfully employed until age 70.
Tahoka High School conferred valedictorian honors on Cain in 1956. His mother urged him to become a doctor. After a year of medical school, Cain switched to law. His mother took that poorly. Cain recalled he never experienced a frostier summer.
While attending UT, Cain worked nights with the sergeant-at-arms of the Texas House of Representatives, sparking a lifelong love of Democratic politics. He even ran for a seat in the Legislature, carrying three of four counties in his High Plains home district. Even so, he narrowly lost.
Later he found himself proudly bearing the ceremonial title of admiral of the Texas Navy, an inside joke among capitol confidantes. Texas has no Navy.
Cain practiced law in Tahoka, San Angelo, Austin and College Station. One of his most memorable cases involved a second-hand lion named “Euripides.” The sedated cat awakened in mid-surgery and tried to eat a Texas Aggie studying veterinary medicine. The Aggie survived; “Euripides” did not. The cat’s aggrieved owner sued the university; Cain, representing Texas A&M, won.
Nowhere was Cain happier than in courtrooms, dispensing justice and, with a theatrical flair, jousting with brainy barristers.
In 1983, Attorney General Mark White assigned Cain to represent Texas when Mediterranean Fruit Flies invaded California. Texas boycotted California citrus when Gov. Jerry Brown refused to fumigate fruit exports; California sued Texas for interfering with interstate commerce. When Cain arrived at the Supreme Court, clerks were befuddled. They had never seen one state sue another state. Meanwhile, Texans leaned on Japan to pressure California. Eventually, Gov. Brown agreed to Texas’ terms. The lawsuit went away. Just like the fruit flies.
Following a nationwide search in 1989 for a general counsel, Virginia Tech officials chose Cain, whom they described as the meanest sonuvabitch in Texas, a sobriquet he wore with satisfaction.
Cain’s greatest legal feat coincided with his planned retirement. In 2007, a Virginia Tech student went on a murderous rampage, fatally shooting 32 people and wounding 17 others on campus. The university braced for a torrent of lawsuits from grieving families. For two years, Cain defended the university. When he retired, the university’s legal docket was clean.
Over the years, Cain tirelessly cheered for the Texas Longhorns, competed (vainly) in amateur cookoffs with his Three Bitch Chili recipe and carried Tom Green County for Jimmy Carter in 1976 (the last time Democrats prevailed locally).
Cain and his first wife were parents of a daughter, Elizabeth. While practicing law in San Angelo, Cain married Dusty Colleen Garland, the love of his life for 43 years until her death in 2015. She consented to wed after he promised to do all the cooking. Her son Cody became Cain’s adopted son.
Besides winning courtroom cases, Cain survived pancreatic cancer with the help of surgeons at Wake Forest.
Retiring to San Angelo in 2009, the Cains enjoyed travels, including a road trip tracing the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06, Normandy battle sites, Italy and St. Maarten’s.
On his bucket list, Cain visited the Scottish island of Islay about 2018 and sampled expressions at all eight distilleries to satisfy his formidable fondness for great whisky.
On his deathbed, Cain said his only regret was not being around in November to vote against Donald Trump, whom he called the sleaziest malefactor, liar and con artist in American history.
Survivors include daughter, Elizabeth Cain Feldt and her husband, David of Houston; son, Cody Christopher Cain and his wife, Donna of McKinney; sister, Lynnetta Leftwich and her husband, Wesley of Fairview Heights, Illinois. Grandchildren are Scott Feldt of Houston, Christopher Cain and Hannah Cain, both of McKinney. Among close friends are Perry Flippin of San Angelo and Gail Kregloe of Blacksburg, Virginia. Cain was devoted to Murphy, a feisty dachshund that he rescued and pampered for 10 years.
No memorial services are planned in accordance with Cain’s wishes. The family will scatter his ashes and those of Dusty in Palo Duro Canyon.
Memorials in the form of donations may go to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
