Long-time High Point University supporter Teresa B. Caine, of Greensboro, recently made a multimillion-dollar gift to create a preservation endowment. The gift ensures HPU has the resources to maintain, sustain and improve the Donald R. and Teresa B. Caine Conservatory in perpetuity.
Teresa, and her late husband, Don, were honored in September 2021 at the dedication ceremony for the Donald R. and Teresa B. Caine Conservatory. The conservatory is a significant addition to the HPU campus, featuring a classroom, working greenhouse, the Butterfly Café eatery and a planting display space. The conservatory serves as an area for students to conduct botanical research and propagate plants for the Mariana H. Qubein Arboretum and Gardens. The couple also endowed a scholarship at HPU in 2015 to help students who display academic merit and have financial need.
“We are extremely grateful for the Caines’ continued support through the years,” says HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein. “Though we are saddened to have lost beloved alumnus Don Caine, we are proud to have Don and Teresa’s legacy continue through the beautiful and functional building that is the Caine Conservatory. Teresa’s gift will guarantee that future generations of students and members of the community will have the opportunity to learn and grow in an extraordinary place.”
Don was a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, and graduated from HPU in 1965. In 1966, he and Teresa founded C&M Products, now known as Camco Manufacturing. The company began with one product, trailer plumbing antifreeze (TPA), and two employees, Don and Teresa. The company was incorporated in 1968, and with the milestone the Caines began to build their team. When the company was sold in 2021, it employed more than 1,500 people and manufactured over 5,600 products.
“Our success with Camco Manufacturing was greater than we ever imagined,” says Teresa Caine. “We wanted to support High Point University, a university that promotes the values that provided a foundation for our family and business, by investing in HPU’s vision and mission. It is my desire for this gift to provide perpetual funding for this extraordinary conservatory for years to come.”
While it was Don’s dream to own his own business, nothing mattered to him more than Teresa and his family. The building represents Don’s passion for his alma mater and Teresa’s passion for plants.