Oliver and Fawn, together at last
This story seemed so odd when I saw it that I wondered whether it was for real. But apparently, it is:
Oliver North and his loyal former secretary Fawn Hall reportedly married in secret last month — 40 years after their leading roles in the infamous Iran-Contra affair.
A copy of the couple’s marriage license, obtained by journalist Michael Isikoff, shows North, 81, and Hall, 65, were married in Arlington County, Virginia, on Aug. 27. …
After the scandal, Hall worked as a model in Hollywood, Calif., where she married Danny Sugarman, the manager of rock band The Doors, in 1993.
Hall was married to Sugarman until his death in 2005. …
North reconnected with Hall last December, at the funeral for his wife of 56 years, according to Isikoff, writing for the “SpyTalk” Substack page.
“She rekindled the relationship at the funeral,” a friend of the couple said. “They started spending time together.”
And there you have it.
Fawn Hall was widowed at age 45. She hadn’t remarried in the intervening years; unattached women in that age range usually do not.
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Betsy North died of an obscure degenerative condition that (one may wager) left her a wreck for years. I’m going to wager he was riper for the picking than an 80 year old man usually is.
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She worked for him and admired him. No indication they were in a ‘relationship’.
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Hoping it goes well for them (and that his children are congenial about it).
By my lights, a nice story.
Wow, I love this! I, too, married my husband after many years (27) apart. I worked for him in my early 20s and we met again when I was in my early 50s after my first husband passed away. He had divorced years before. We’re coming up on 17 years next month!
gwynmir:
Congratulations!
It’s not such an unusual story.
We had some dear elderly friends who dated in high school, married other people after graduation, were both widowed, reconnected at a school reunion in their 70s, and lived happily ever after until both passed away.
She was married until her husband’s death. He was married until his wife’s death. Always faithful. Now, they’re married to each other. Congratulations! Fair winds and following seas.
I worked with North on the “Tarawa” episode of his “War Stories” documentary series. Nice guy. During breaks he mostly talked about his wife and kids.
Old school, got her pregnant, married in a hurry.
I have always admired Ollie. He is a Marine’s Marine.
I was Navy but worked with a lot of Marines when I taught formation and gunnery at Pensacola. I realized then that my mindset was more akin to that of the Marines.
I watched all of his “War Stories” series on Fox. He was a good military storyteller.
It’s a good news story. Lord knows we need some good news these days. I also wish them fair winds and following seas. Growing old is easier when you have someone by your side.
I think this is great! The song “Let’s Give ‘em Something to Talk About” is playing in my head.
Amy, fantastic! 😀
And gwynmir, your story is great! I’m glad for you!
When I saw the headline about these two skitter by the other day, I had to take a look and remind myself what Fawn Hall had looked like. I’m sure I saw her on TV at least briefly during the hearings, but couldn’t remember her face. I hated North at the time, but had to admire his candor when he admitted the big thing. I mellowed later, but never got into his later material, the quality of which I have no particular reason to doubt sight unseen. Their marriage does sound like a good story, though.
Thank you, neo and Philip Sells!
I too have high school classmates who married others in college, then the two couples continued to see each other socially. The respective spouses passed away in the last decade (IOW, some 50+ years after HS graduation) and married each other. The husband of this second union passed just last year. She continues to post on Facebook, and I see now that she continues to visit with many of our mutual classmates — mostly women, but then the female side of our HS class now outnumbers the male side by a wide margin.
I recently had a divorced friend in his 80s marry an old high school sweetheart. I wondered, why bother? Just shack up, nobody is going to be horified. As Hillary Clinton said about Bengazi, at this point what does it matter? I wish them happiness.
My brother was fond of the PBS series Last Tango in Halifax. I could never take an interest in any of the characters myself.
Just shack up, nobody is going to be horified.
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Maybe they have motors apart from a regard for appearances.
@Ray:why bother? Just shack up, nobody is going to be horified.
One of my WWII-generation great uncles did this, and nobody was horrified. They were together 20 years or so, and after she died, he said not marrying her was his greatest regret, and he was always reminded of it because on her tombstone she has another man’s name.
OK. I forgot, she would have to wear a scarlet “A” on her dress.
Marriage invokes a commitment to caring for each other that shacking up doesn’t.
There are also financial and medical benefits to having a legal relationship (although occasionally the financial situation cuts the other direction).
Aside from financial and medical benefits, they have a history.
As people age, many of them revert to thinking about their lives when they were young.
For many, that was the most intensely emotional time of their life. Often, those are the people who go to reunions, reminisce about the past, and generally are most connected to those who shared it.
My husband is like that. Me, I don’t live in the past. I’m more involved with today and tomorrow’s events.