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Hoagland sponsors bill honoring U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Yvonne Marie Fair

Photo Provided Staff Sgt. Yvonne Fair is shown with her fiance, Larry Meyers, before she died in 2015.

COLUMBUS — Ohio Sen. Frank Hoagland recently introduced legislation that would designate a portion of Ohio 7 in Jefferson County as the “U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Yvonne Marie Fair Memorial Highway.”

“Her life was taken much too young by melanoma and as we enter the month of May, which is Melanoma Detection and Prevention Month, I hope this small act serves to keep her memory alive in this community for many years to come,” said Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction. “This legislation seeks to memorialize the life and bravery of Staff Sgt. Yvonne Fair, and to lift her up as an example worthy of emulation for future generations.”

Fair grew up in Steubenville and was an integral member of her community, volunteering with local fire departments, teaching CPR classes at Belmont College and serving as the student youth advisor president for the Jefferson County Farm Bureau. She joined the Air Force in January 2007 as a bio-environmental specialist and served until she was medically retired in 2011 after being diagnosed with stage IV inoperable melanoma.

Although her health was failing, her patriotism was unending. Upon returning home, she was balancing cancer treatments and serving as a full-time firefighter and paramedic for fire departments in Brilliant and Neffs. She lost her four-year battle with melanoma in the spring of 2015.

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