Dr. PAUL R. FAIR
was a native of Okolona, Ark., he was born July 11, 1925, and died November 15, 2020. He was a graduate of Okolona High School in 1943. He was the youngest and only survivor of seven sons and three daughters born to James A. Fair, Sr. and Eugene Cagle Fair from 1902 to 1925. They were Mildred Fair, James A Fair Jr., Henry Orville Fair, Herman Hays Fair, Rupert Worth Fair, Ruby Gayron Alcorn, Rev. Cagle E. Fair, Elweis Fair Caldwell and Richard Watson Fair.
Fair served in the U. S. Army Infantry during World War II in New Guinea, the Philippines and Japan. His awards included the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star Medal for valor in the Philippines Campaign and the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received in combat. Prior to his 20th birthday, he was selected as one of 175 combat veterans to serve in the original General MacArthur Honor Guard Unit on Luzon and in Tokyo. He was the only Arkansan in the original unit and the last survivor.
Fair was discharged from the Army in Dec. 1945, at Camp Chaffee, and enrolled in Magnolia A&M for the spring semester. In April 1946, he married Marie Grady, who he had known at Henderson State University, prior to his military service. They transferred to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where they completed their formal education with financial assistance from the G. I. Bill. Fair was employed as Fairview Elementary School Principal in Texarkana, Ark., from 1948 to 1954. During the next twenty-four years, he served as Jefferson Elementary School Principal, Assistant Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent and Superintendent of Schools in the Little Rock Public Schools.
After 1978, Fair was employed as Jefferson County School Supervisor, Director of the Cuban Refugee Education Project at Camp Chaffee, Instructor in Educational Administration for the University of Arkansas and Associate Professor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. Dr. Fair was elected to numerous positions of leadership on professional committees and commissions at the local, state and national levels during his career in public education. From 1990 to 2000, he served as Executive Director of the Arkansas Retired Teacher Association. In 1995 he was elected to the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System Board of Trustees and re-elected to serve for a total of fifteen years. From 2000 to 2006 he was a member of the National Retired Teachers eighteen-member Pensions Roundtable Committee.
Fair was past-president of the Little Rock Civitan Club and recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Award as a member of the Little Rock Rotary Club. He was a member of the Masonic Order as a Master Mason since 1953 and the Scottish Rite for 40 years. He was honored by being selected to receive the Scottish Rite 33rd Degree in 2009.
His immediate family consisted of Marie Grady Fair, his wife since 1946; a son, James Richard Fair of Madison, Wis; a daughter, Melinda Fair of Little Rock, five grandchildren, Amanda Fair, Erin Lorenzen, Matthew Fair (Cristina), Casey Lorenzen (Bailey), Sky Cardwell, two great-grandchildren, Ben and Lilly Lorenzen.
As a Christian, Fair was an active member of Saint Paul United Methodist Church in Little Rock since 1955, Past President of the Little Rock Conference Methodist Men, Member of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, Past District Lay Leader and Chairman of the Camp Tanako Board of Directors.
A graveside funeral service will be held at Primrose United Methodist Church Cemetery, 3006 Dixon Rd,
Little Rock, Ark., on Thursday, November 19, 2020, at 11 a.m. A face covering is required to attend the graveside service. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Arrangements are entrusted to Ruebel Funeral Home, RuebelFuneralHome.com.