Anita Lee Blair

Anita Lee Blair (September 8, 1916 – August 25, 2010) was an American politician and activist from Texas. She was the first blind woman elected to any state legislature in the United States.^[1]

Early life and education

Anita Lee Blair was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and raised in El Paso, Texas. She graduated from Austin High School in that city, in 1933.^[2] She became blind after a car accident at age 19, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. She earned a B. A. at Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy in 1944, and later completed a master's degree from Texas Women's College, in 1951.^[3]

Career

In 1940, Blair became the first person in El Paso to have a service dog, a German shepherd named Fawn. The pair became famous beyond Texas while lecturing on traffic safety and accident prevention.^[4][5][6] In 1946, Blair and Fawn escaped the fatal La Salle Hotel fire in Chicago; their story highlighted the function of service dogs and was covered in newspapers across the country, and on local television stations in Chicago.^{[7][8][9][10]} In 1950, Blair successfully protested when Fawn was not allowed into the United States Senate gallery with her to attend a debate.^[11][12]

Blair was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1952, and served one term.^[13][14] As a state representative, she worked for a pay increase for teachers, for the renovation of the state school for the deaf, and for the right of women to serve on juries.^[15] She also co-authored a bill requiring jail sentences for drunk drivers. She lost her bid for re-election in 1954, and in three subsequent elections.^[16][17]

In her later years, Blair was a fixture on local talk radio in El Paso, and at age 86 ran unsuccessfully for county judge.^[18] In 2009, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement BRAVO Award from the League of Women Voters of El Paso.^[19]

Personal life and legacy

Blair married Curtis Reynolds Chartier in 1959, in Alamogordo, New Mexico.^[20] Blair died in 2010, at age 93. In recognition of her service as a state legislator, her remains were buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.^[21]