Lynn Bain - Friends of Liberia

Lynn Bain September 15, 1950 to March 30, 2013.

Lynn Bain loved people and she loved Liberia. She was born in Woodland, California and received her education in Oakland, California where she earned her RN degree from Merritt School of Nursing in 1972. In 1974 she traveled to Liberia to become a Peace Corps Volunteer working in health. She spent two years in Zwedru returning to the Oakland area in late 1976.

Lynn & Geoff Bain are married

While in Liberia she met Geoffrey Bain, a Peace Corps Volunteer in a forestry program. She and Geoff had to be gently nudged into a relationship after their Peace Corps years but they turned out to be a terrific couple. After years of a long distance relationship between Oakland and Eureka, California they married in 1988. Lynn moved to Eureka and began working at the hospital there as a labor and maternity nurse. Sadly the marriage ended less than two years later when Geoff died of cancer.

Lynn continued to work in Eureka and gained many friends, from co-workers to mothers baring their first child. A few who saw Lynn on their first day of life later met Lynn as they gave birth at St. Joseph Hospital.

Faith was important to Lynn as she attended two churches in Eureka, Bethal Church, and Christ Episcopal Church. She was also active in Cursillo, a Christian leadership movement.

2009 brought major changes to Lynn Bain’s life.

Lynn left her work at the maternity ward and began working for Hospice. Her skills practiced at the beginning of life were transformed as she eased the transition of men and women in their final days of life and comforted their family and friends.

Lynn Bain meets Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

The other major event was a return to Liberia. Like many, Lynn wondered if the people she worked with in Liberia had survived the war. She eagerly joined 26 Friends Of Liberia members in May of 2009 as they returned to work on projects and view the country they had previously lived in. She traveled to Zwedru where she met Lillian Barbley, a midwife she knew from her tour in 74 & 75. Lynn listened as Lillian told of her time in refugee camps in Ghana before returning to Liberia.

Lillian asked if Lynn could help her grandson Marvin Garbeh Davis go to college. Lynn stepped up and gave the young man the opportunity to continue his education by paying three years of fees as Marvin Davis completed courses at Cuttington College in Liberia. Marvin wished to use what he was learning to work with refugees, a life he knew from his experience. With cellphones and the internet Lynn and Marvin had daily contact and Marvin became an important part of her life.

Lynn then sponsored Marvin for a visa to enroll in a master’s program in international studies at Chapman University in Southern California.

Marvin came to the US and they met for the first time in September of 2012. Marvin and Lynn then traveled to Portland, Oregon for a FOL sponsored fundraiser. Lynn and Marvin continued daily communication via text, and cell phone as he returned to study at Chapman.

In March of this year Marvin returned to Liberia to marry to his high school sweetheart. He was returning back to Eureka to see Lynn before school started and received no contact from Lynn. He called the authorities in Eureka who found that Lynn had died of a pulmonary embolism in her Eureka home on March 30. Tragically, it was three days before signing a will and beginning adoption proceedings for Marvin.

Those of us in FOL who knew Lynn from her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer, a fellow traveler back to Liberia, or met her at Peace Corps or FOL fundraisers recognized her as a compassionate person whose life enriched others.