Sara Meigs

LOUISVILLE - Sara Willis Meigs, one of the founders of the historic preservation movement in Kentucky and a national leader in the Episcopal Church, died on Tuesday evening after a short illness. She was 95. Mrs. Meigs, known to all as "Sally," was the widow of Franklin Circuit Judge Henry Meigs II, who died in 2014. Longtime residents of Frankfort, Judge and Mrs. Meigs spent the last 30 years of their lives in Louisville. She was born in Ashland, Kentucky, to Simeon and Ida Lee Willis, and was educated in public and private schools in Ashland and Frankfort, where her father was a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, then the court of last resort in the commonwealth. In 1943, her father became the 46th Governor of Kentucky. Sally attended Episcopal Convent Margaret Hall, followed by the National Cathedral School in Washington, where she was graduated in 1940. She then attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. In 1944, Sally was married to Army Air Force Captain Henry Meigs II, becoming the only governor's daughter to be wed in the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort. The Meigses lived in Frankfort, where Henry practiced law and served as circuit judge for a quarter century. They had one son, Simeon Willis Meigs, born in 1947. In 1957, they took Henry's sister's sons, William and John, ages 4 and 6, and brought them up as sons. "Sally Meigs was a pillar in what we think of as the 'Old Guard' of organized preservation in Kentucky," said Stephen L. Collins, son of Gov. Martha Lane Collins and chairman of the Kentucky Heritage Council. "She gave financial support, moral support and wholehearted encouragement to preservation work all over the state and beyond. "Since 1979, the Ida Lee Willis Awards ceremony has recognized individuals and groups throughout the Commonwealth for their outstanding achievements in historic preservation. Mrs. Meigs provided leadership in a quiet, dignified, yet direct and effective manner, and she had a refining influence on all of the endeavors and projects in which she was involved. She was a great preservationist and a grand lady and she will be missed beyond measure." Meme Sweets Runyon, preservationist and executive director of River Fields, Inc., a recipient of the Ida Lee Willis award, called her a "gracious, prescient preservationist. I was blessed to have met her at an early age. She was the embodiment of a positive preservation ethic and a model for many of us who continue this work." According to David Morgan, Kentucky's immediate past State Historic Preservation Officer, "Mrs. Meigs was very quiet and genteel, yet she had a will of iron that made it difficult to refuse her once she made up her mind that she was going to do something. "Given her legacy for preserving Kentucky's heritage, it is very sad and yet somehow meaningful that we have lost her in 2016, when Kentucky is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act and the founding of the Kentucky Heritage Council as the state historic preservation office." Sally served as vice-chairman of the Kentucky Heritage Council, and as a board member of the Kentucky Historic Sites Commission. She served on the former Kentucky Historic Preservation Board, which sought to establish historic preservation as a curriculum offering in the University of Kentucky College of Architecture. She worked with Kentucky Educational Television in several television programs about historic preservation, wrote articles for Antiques magazine and in 1951 published a short story, "Another Song, Another Spring," in Collier's (using the pseudonym "Lesley Merrill"). She served on the boards of the Louisville Ballet and Charter Collectors for the Speed Art Museum. After moving to Louisville in 1984, when Judge Meigs left the bench to practice with the firm of Middleton and Reutlinger, she became a member and active participant at Calvary Episcopal Church. In Frankfort, the Meigs family attended the Church of the Ascension. Throughout her life, Sally was very devoted to the Episcopal Church and was a longtime trustee of the National Cathedral in Washington. She received Recognition of Outstanding Services as a Member to the Cathedral, 1988-1995. She was appointed trustee emerita of the National Cathedral, where she was named Sister Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Sally was a member of the board of the National Society of Colonial Dames of Kentucky, and she was a representative to Dunbarton House (Lady of Dunbarton) in Washington. In 2014, she received the Margaretta Mason Brown Award for Outstanding Contributions from the National Society of Colonial Dames of America. Sally Willis Meigs took seriously her role as a governor's daughter, and as the years passed, her presence in Frankfort (where she testified before the legislature on preservation issues) and across the state kept the legacy of Simeon Willis, one of the few Republican governors of the 20th century, alive. Her style and grace made her a valued guest a dinner parties and social events. And her incisive mind always made it worthwhile to pay attention to her opinions. She was a member of the Sulgrave Club in Washington, D.C., the River Valley Club, the Louisville Country Club and Keeneland. Sally is survived by her sons, William Holt Averell (Ashley) and John Bleecker Averell. Her eldest child, Simeon Willis Meigs, died in June 2005. She is also survived by her daughter-in-law, Deborah Meigs, and four grandchildren, Lauren (Mrs. Christopher) Gray, Margaret Bleecker (Mrs. John) Raigins, Sarah Willis Meigs and Randle Meigs Averell. The funeral will be at 11am Monday at Calvary Episcopal Church, 821 S. Fourth Street; Louisville, with a reception to follow at the church. Private burial will be at Frankfort Cemetery, followed by a reception from 12-2pm Tuesday at the Church of the Ascension, 311 Washington Street, Frankfort, KY. Arrangements under the direction of Pearson's. Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Ida Lee Willis Memorial Awards Foundation or to Liberty Hall, Inc.