Charles M. Hair, M.D., Class of 1937

March 15, 2001
Santa Paula High School
By B. J. Harding, President, SPUHS Alumni Association (Biography #128. Have you submitted yours?)Charles is one of four children of James H. and Louise Bledsoe Hair of Santa Paula. The other children are Bill (‘50), and Dana and Jim.At SPUHS Charles was extremely active on the varsity track and football teams, and in the band and orchestra, and he still remembers having great times with his pals Jim Lincoln, John Cline, Dana Teague, Edwin Pinkerton and Jim Culbertson. Some of the special teachers he recalls from his school years were Randall Bryden, Clarence Wegel, H. Peyton Johnson, Ellen Bailard, Rhe Nelson, Henry Hill, Lorraine Noble and, of course, Principal Freeman Eakin.Immediately after graduation Charles went to USC to receive his B.S., and on to do his internship at Santa Fe Coastline Hospital. He went back to USC in 1945 to receive his M.D.In 1945 Charles went to the Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado and got his residency in OB-GYN while serving in the U.S. Army. From Denver he was sent to the 62nd Field Hospital in Salzburg, Austria as a surgeon. At the close of World War II, Charles returned to Ventura County to be a family physician.
From 1955-1965 Dr. Hair served St. John’s Medical Center in Oxnard as chief of staff. In 1970 he was chairman of Obstetrics-Gynecology at St. John’s. In 1974 he and his friend Ben Nordman realized the need for visiting nurses so they co-founded the Livingston Memorial Foundation, from which the Livingston Visiting Nurse Association came. In 1978 Charles became chairman of the board of Blue Shield of California, and served in that position until 1981. He is presently chairman emeritus of that company.Dr. Hair has been active in professional organizations, including president of the Ventura County Medical Society, president of the California Medical Association, and chairman to the American Medical Association Council on Legislation. He has also served his community as a board member for the Saticoy Elementary School, the United Way, the Ventura Arthritis Foundation, the California Chamber of Commerce, and on the board for American Sound and Video Corp.Dr. Hair was honored by the Ventura County Supervisor Proclamation Award in 1983, and again in 1988. He was given the California State Chamber of Commerce Award in 1987. In 1991 he received the St. John’s Humanitarian Award and the Howard Hassard Award as the Blue Shield of California Physician of the Year in 1991. He was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Arthritis Foundation, and grand marshal for the Ventura County Fair in 1995.Charles married Gerry Vork, formerly of Ojai. They have five children, John, Cheryl, Steve, Suzanne, and Patrick. Even though retired, Charles is still interested in seeing that people have quality health care, especially in-home care, and he keeps involved with the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurses Association of Ventura.



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