Margaret M. Miller; 1st County Fair Queen
Margaret Monahan Miller, a Ventura County native who reigned as the first Fair Queen, has died after a five-year battle with emphysema. She was 65.
Miller was born in Santa Paula but lived the last years of her life in Ventura, family members said.
In the late 1940s, she was named the Ventura County Fair’s first Fair Queen in a competition that has since become an annual event.
She is survived by two sons, Michael and Patrick, and one daughter, Shelly. She is also survived by her brother, Ventura City Councilman James L. Monahan; her sister, Patricia L. Hadfield, and longtime companion John Griswold.
A Mass will be held at 7 p.m. today at San Buenaventura Mission. Inurnment at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park will be private. Family members request that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the American Lung Assn.
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