March 11, 1968
Maureen O’Hara & General Charles F. Blair

O'Hara & Blair

She was a leading lady on the silver screen in such films as The Quiet Man and A Miracle on 34th Street. He was a famous aviator who made the first solo flight over the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole. Forty-two years ago today, they made their love official at a courthouse in the Virgin Islands.

Soon after Maureen O’Hara married General Charles F. Blair, she retired from acting, moved to the Virgin Islands and helped him manage a commuter sea place service in the Caribbean. The couple also owned and published a magazine called The Virgin Islander, in which she even wrote a monthly column.

They were married for ten years, until Blair’s tragic death in a plane crash in 1978. Although O’Hara was mourning his death, she kept his legacy alive by taking over their business.

To this day, O’Hara maintains that Blair is the love of her entire life. She told a reporter in 2004, “I was married to the most wonderful man in the world.”

Although their story is bittersweet, we feel a love as eternal as theirs deserves to be honored.

You can read more about O’Hara and her life with Blair in her memoir Tis Herself.