[2][3] Her maternal grandfather, Sergeant Thomas Perrett, served in the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and was shot three times during the Battle of Gettysburg.

[3] In her childhood, McCain was close to a formerly enslaved man, called "Uncle Robert", who continued to work for her family after emancipation.

[3] Growing up during the Great Depression and World War II, McCain helped her mother serve food and provide necessities to struggling families in their community.

[3] McCain attended Faison High School, where she was on the basketball team, and graduated a year early as valedictorian in 1947.

[5][6] The women in McCain's family had been attending Saint Mary's for generations including her grandmother, Eloise Faison Perrett, and six of her grandaunts.

[7] She was also a member of the school's yearbook staff, honor council, glee club, choir, and the Altar Guild for St. Mary's Chapel.

[7] After finishing junior college, McCain continued her education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating with a bachelor's degree in music in 1952.

[7] After finishing undergraduate school, McCain moved to New York City in 1952 to pursue a master's degree in education at Columbia University.

[15] In 1989, McCain co-chaired the Pine Needles Network, a political action committee focused on recruiting young women as candidates for state offices.

[16] She declined a request to run for the United States Senate in 1990, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

[9] In 2004, John and Betty Ray McCain were named "Wilsonians of the Year" by the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

[21][22] McCain was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the General Alumni Association and a Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of North Carolina.