Hello,

I am the President of the Entomological Society of America, and I am doing a column on unsung mentors that will feature Brighton "Bugs" Cain. I
have a problem, however, in that all I really know about him is that he worked at a scout camp and influenced most of the big names in West Coast
entomology over the course of an entire generation. I thought he was based in Oakland, but your site is for Diamond O, which I assume is in the
Sierras?

I was happy to see that you had a photo of him on your Diamond O website. This is the first place that I was able to find even his first name! Is it
possible to get a larger copy of that photo? Also, do you happen to know when he died? I would love to find an obituary for him. Any information
on him, or contacts to anyone else who might have information would be greatly appreciated.

Yours,

Michael Ivie

__________________________________________________

Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D.
Department of Entomology
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
USA

(406) 994-4610 (voice)
(406) 994-6029 (FAX)
mivie@montana.edu

I attended camp Dimond O in 1948, 1950 and 1951 and remember Bugs Cain well, especially his rattlesnake shows. I do not know for sure when he died but I recall an obituary in the Hayward, California daily newspaper in the early 1950's (could have been 1950, 1951 or 1952. It was for a "B.C.Cain" who had taken his own life by carbon monoxide poising. I asked my scoutmaster if it was Bugs Cain and as I recall, my scoutmaster said yes. My scoutmaster said Bugs has been in poor health and given an indoor job in scout headquarters and missed being in an outdoor job very much. Sorry I can't add more.

Ron White

From the California Death Records for 1940 to 1997 which are on the internet at www.vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi:

Brighton C. Cain, born on 05/08/1897 in Utah. Died on 05/19/1951 in San Mateo County, California.