Carson Bain was born in Lexington, North Carolina, in 1917. In 1932 his family moved from High Point to Greensboro, where Bain attended Greensboro Senior High School (now Grimsley High School) and graduated in 1934. While working at the A&P grocery store, Bain started a cooking oil business, Home Kero Service. This one-man oil enterprise became Bain Heating and Oil Company in 1946. Bain served as the company’s president until his retirement. Throughout that time he was also involved in several Greensboro civic organizations, most notably the Greensboro Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees), of which he is a life member.