Lucille Bain

Lucille Bain was born second daughter to Marshall and Cecile Mullins of Abilene, Texas, on June 6, 1929. She passed into eternity on October 12, 2024. She loved people from the beginning to the end of her life and was blessed with many friends.

In 1929, Abilene was a town of only a few thousand people. Since her mother was an artistic gardener and flower arranger, as well as an excellent seamstress, Lucille learned to love beauty as a young person.

Lucille graduated from Abilene High School after eleven years and enrolled in Abilene Christian College. There she met Joe Bain of San Francisco, California. They courted for eight months before getting married at Highland Church of Christ. Lucille had finished a year of college. While Joe continued at ACC, she worked as a telephone operator in downtown Abilene.

As a mother of young children, Lucille stayed home to care for them until both were in school. During the following years, she worked at a department store in Corpus Christi, Texas, and then for many years as a reporter at the Corpus Christi Credit Bureau. She also worked as a substitute teacher and volunteered as a Girl Scout leader. Perhaps most important, she taught 4 and 5-year-old children to love Jesus, teaching pre-schoolers in Sunday school every week for 35 years.

Lucille’s father owned a prominent restaurant in Abilene, and he taught her the importance of serving good food and making it look beautiful. She carried that into her years as a hostess to their friends from church and the neighborhood; then she hosted hundreds of teenagers, who always found good fun and good food at the Bain house. In her sixties, Lucille started the tradition of hosting the biggest Valentine party in town.

In her empty nest days, Lucille never sat. She and Joe traveled, often to visit children and grandchildren, but also to accomplish goals like hunting in the Rocky Mountains or riding motorcycles around town. On one of their trips to Hawaii, they encountered a former professor from Abilene Christian College. Her friends treasure the art work that Lucille created in those years, learning to make ceramics, to paint, and to bead dresses. As a widow, she had the opportunity to go with her daughter Marsha as a missionary to Sudan and Uganda, where she was well loved.

Long after they had outgrown the pre-school classroom, Lucille’s former Sunday school students still found her there at the same church, still ready to offer a hug. When Joe was an elder, Lucille worked alongside him in caring for their congregation in Corpus Christi. Among the thousands of people whose lives she touched and the beautiful art she created, Lucille leaves a humbling legacy.

Lucille is survived by her daughter Marsha Martin of San Antonio and her son Marshall Dewey Bain of Bethlehem, Georgia. She is also survived by her grandchildren Maurya, La Sheonda, Christy, Danielle, Kalyn, Todd, and Stephen; by her great-grandchildren Stephen, Selanie, Sean, Scott, Cassidy, Addison, Caroline, Estelle Jane, Sabrina, Levi, Evelyn Rose, Sarah Katherine, and Walker; and by her great-great grandchildren Katrianna, Rylen, and Edmund.

A memorial service honoring Lucille’s life and legacy will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, November 9, at Oak Hills Church, 19595 Interstate 10 West in San Antonio.

Friends who prefer to make a memorial gift in lieu of flowers can direct their donation to the American Cancer Society (P.O. Box 6704, Hagerstown, MD 21741) or to Pioneer Bible Translators (PO Box 380820, Duncanville, TX 75138).

The family of Lucille Bain greatly appreciates all the expressions of kindness shown to them during this time.