Christine Lee Cain

Christine Lee Adams Brown Cain passed away peacefully the morning of July 4th, 2025, after a six-year journey living with Alzheimer's disease. Christine (known to most as simply "Chris") was born on November 24th, 1948, at the U.S. Naval Dispensary, U.S Fleet Activities in Yokosuka, Japan. Her father was Staff/Sargent U.S. Army in the Korean War at the time of her birth.
Chris grew up in Creve Coeur, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis). She graduated High School from Parkway Central in 1966. She enrolled and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri where she pursued a degree in journalism. She left the University of Missouri just shy of graduation as she fell in love with Henry James Brown (her first husband) and soon married bringing a wonderful man, Keith Michael Brown, into the world in December of 1969. Keith was followed by his brother, Ryan Henry Brown, in 1973. The family lived together in Middletown, PA and St. Louis, MO the next several years before their divorce in 1979. Now a single-mom, Chris began her banking career with Citicorp, N.A. in St. Louis but later spent time in Tulsa, Dallas, and Phoenix with the Company. It was while she was in St. Louis that she met a man from Tulsa, OK that would later be her second husband of almost 42 years upon her death, Michael Cain.
Michael and Chris were married in January 1984 and lived with the boys in Tulsa, then Dallas as both worked for Citicorp, N.A. where they met and dated from July 1979 – 1984. But both were adventurous and ambitious, and they soon moved to Phoenix, AZ in 1987. Eventually, Chris grew bored with banking and soon went back to college, earning a
degree in Business Administration in 1990 from the University of Phoenix, completing her studies from the University of Missouri.
Chris earned her M.A. in Social-Cultural Anthropology in 1997 from Arizona State University and finally, her Ph.D from the University of Arizona in 2002 in Language, Reading & Culture. She was then employed as an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
As if that wasn't enough, Chris co-designed two homes for the family. One in Manhattan Beach, CA and the other in Sedona, AZ. Both homes demonstrate the creativity, will and true talent she possessed. Truly an amazing and strong woman, she unfortunately experienced memory loss, agitation and hallucinations in late 2019 that doctors would diagnose as late-term Alzheimer's. This beautiful and amazing woman could no longer form a sentence and soon couldn't recognize her husband. With so much more life that was left to experience, it was clearly going to crush the dreams of her husband and her family. But she definitely now lives in peace and comfort.
Chris was preceded in death by her parents, Ingrid Monroe Adams and Donald Lee Adams; her sister Ingrid Winifred Adams; her half-sister, Sabine Adams; and her first husband, Henry James Brown. She is greatly missed by grand-niece, Peyton Cain, and nephews Tyler, Dakota, Dillon and Jasper Cain of Norman, OK and Steven Douglas and Joanna Cain, brother and sister-in-law to Michael Cain. Her son Keith (Heather) Brown and her two granddaughters, Erin Christine and Riley Elizabeth Brown of Middletown, PA and her son, Ryan, of Phoenix, AZ will also miss Chris.
Finally, she also leaves behind her sister Marti (Gerry) Hardisty of Vallejo, CA; her brother David (Angelika) Adams of Rauenberg, Germany; and her half-brother, Alban (Tracee) Adams of Stonington, CT, nieces Samantha (Dwayne) Soriano of Benicia, CA; Rachel Hardisty of Vallejo, CA and Greta Adams of Rauenberg, Germany; her nephew Scott Adams (Aubree) of Pueblo, CO; and the greats: Beckett and Asher Soriano, Thomas and James Adams, Kyle, Michelle and Aidan Adams, and Damian Adams. The Adams, Paulding, and Monroe cousins, and the Nicely family will also feel her absence. There will be no calling hours, and burial will be private. If you are so inclined, donation to the Alzheimer's Foundation in Chris' memory will benefit many "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good." And anytime you hear the song, "Fields of Gold" by Sting know that Chris is singing along with us!
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