Sharing memories of togetherness

By Ed Merrison
THEY were dismal and depressing times in Melbourne, but in the dim light of the Capitol Theatre foyer, Meg Mignerey met the love of her life.
A wartime blind date brought Meg together with Staff Sergeant Wilson Mignerey of the United States Air Force (USAF).
On the handful of times they met during their courtship, Wilson had to return before a 1am curfew to the Geelong base where he was assembling aircraft.
But those moments stolen from the grim reality of war were enough to persuade Meg to accept Wilson’s proposal, sent by post from the Pacific in the form of a note and 35 pounds for an engagement ring.
They married on Wednesday, 24 November, 1943 and embarked on an epic journey that has culminated in intimate companionship and quieter times in Sherbrooke.
Meg and Wilson could not be closer than they are now, but it was not always the case.
She was born to hotelier parents in Beeac, near Colac, while he was raised in Marion, Indiana.
They were apart for a year after marrying at East Malvern’s Ewing Memorial Church, with Wilson returning to service in New Guinea after just a week’s leave.
They reunited in Indiana after Meg travelled to Vancouver on a Swedish freighter before heading on by train via a terrifying stop at Chicago’s Union Station.
“When I look back to the last time I saw dad at Spencer Street station, I just felt it was right for me,” Meg said. “I had no regrets; it was all an adventure.”
The couple would be separated again when the USAF moved Wilson to Japan in 1949, but were soon back together and gave birth in Okinawa to their daughter, who now lives in Belgrave.
Towards the end of the Korean War, they moved back to the States and were stationed variously in Florida, Alabama and California until Wilson retired from the USAF as Master Sergeant in 1962.
They settled for a while in Marin County where Wilson drove a school bus – “one of the best jobs I ever had” – and eventually came back to Australia to live at the end of the 1970s.
A childhood moving round hotels in the Western district prepared Meg for an itinerant life, and she fell in love with America just as she adored Australia.
“We just made the best of wherever we were,” she said.
“All those places had special moments,” she said.
Their time together has had its ups and downs – most notably the death of David, the eldest of their two sons – but both agree it has been a wonderful life.
They have come a long way since that first meeting, where Meg recalls Wilson was “very nice with impressive manners”, but at 22 – a few months older than her – also “a little young”.
It will soon be 27 years since they bought their Sherbrooke house on Meg’s 60th birthday, and good memories of faraway friends and places stay with them.
But home is where the heart is, and the Mignerey’s heart lies in the adventure of marriage.
“She’s just a beautiful companion,” Wilson said of his wife.
“Being together is the only way I like it.”