Meginniss memorial included in new WWII exhibits in the state’s Museum of Alabama

By Steve Murray and Albert Kennington

The Museum of Alabama at the state’s Department of Archives and History is dedicated to telling the stories of Alabamians throughout history, using records and artifacts to connect today’s visitors with the experiences of those in the past. Prominent in this telling has been the service of Alabama men and women in uniform, both within the state’s borders and around the world.

Following years of planning and five months of construction, the Museum opened major updates to its military exhibits in November with the dedication of Alabama Military Stories. The new gallery explores the themes of service, community, and legacy in the lives of service members, veterans, and their families. The space will feature rotating displays of materials.

Stories explored in the gallery’s first configuration include a young couple’s experiences during World War II, army aviation in the Vietnam era, the many forms of public service by a Vietnam veteran, and the special contributions of members of the chaplaincy and medical corps.

Among the artifacts associated with the chaplaincy is a communion kit used by the Rev. Ben Meginniss during World War II in the Navy, and by the Rev. Ben Meginniss, rector of Trinity Episcopal in Mobile from 1965 to 1985 and of Dothan’s Episcopal Church of the Nativity from 1950 to 1965.  The Rev. Albert Kennington, Meginniss’s successor at Trinity, helped facilitate the donation of the kit by Ben’s son, the Rev. David Meginniss.

Meginniss was born in Tallahassee in 1913.   A “cradle Episcopalian,” he worked as a teenager in the Diocese of Florida’s Camp Weed, and it was there that he met his future bride and discerned his vocation to ordination.   After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism, he graduated from the School of Theology at The University of the South, Sewanee, in 1937.   He was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop Frank Juhan of Florida and was assigned to be the first resident clergyman of St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea in Jacksonville Beach.   He and Annette Munroe McFarlin were married in April of 1942.   They became parents of a daughter and three sons.  

He became a chaplain in the U. S. Navy in 1944 after his third request to his bishop for release for military service.   His story was that when he first told Bishop Juhan that he wanted to enlist, the bishop declined.   A year later, this happened again.   Finally, in 1944, he told Bishop Juhan, “I have to do this.”   The bishop readily agreed.  When Ben asked him what made him change his mind, the bishop said, “I did not change my mind.   I waited for you to make up yours!    There’s a difference between wanting to and having to.”

Lt. Meginniss served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres in and after WW II for six years: at Naval Air Station, Pasco, Washington; aboard the USS Chernango; at Naval Operating Base, Guam; at U. S. Navy Yard, Philadelphia; and aboard the USS Shenandoah.   He resigned his commission in June of 1950 to become rector of the Church of the Nativity in Dothan, Alabama, where he served for 15 years.   After this, he served Trinity Church, Mobile, for 20 years before retiring.

Throughout his years of parish ministry, he kept mementos of his Navy service on his desk.  In the Mardi Gras city of Mobile, it was customary for a Navy ship to call in port for the carnival.   He always arranged for officers and crew to have transportation to and from Sunday morning church with dinner in the homes of parishioners afterwards.   He sometimes used his communion kit in worship services during a church picnic or summer camp outing.

Beyond this, he was a leader in the diocese and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.  He was known for his quick wit and humor.   He served as Secretary of the Diocese and editor of The Coast Line.  (In fact, he named it.) He was keenly interested in furthering ecumenical and interfaith friendships.  When it came to editing writings for spelling, grammar, and syntax, he was hell with a blue pencil.  He revered the Word, and he honored the language.  He enjoyed being on stage in local theatrical productions and his constant efforts to shoot par on a golf course.   He was the author of numerous limericks and alliterative courtesy resolutions at the end of diocesan conventions.  After he retired in 1985, he and Annette continued to make their home in Mobile.   He died in 2001, and his remains were interred in the Memory Garden of Trinity Church, Mobile.  A few years later, Annette’s were interred near him.

Steve Murray, director of the Department of Archives & History, said the communion kit supports the purposes of Alabama Military Stories superbly. “Our aim was to highlight stories of the human experience in a military context—to include not only the courage required in battle but also the compassion and mercy that brought comfort to the wounded. Chaplain Meginniss used this communion kit to minister to sailors who were far from home and family, facing life-threatening circumstances. It provides a beautiful, meaningful connection to their experiences and the care provided by a chaplain.”

The Museum of Alabama is open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 to 4:30. Admission is always free.   

Steve Murray is Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Albert Kennington is a retired priest of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, recently retired Registrar-Historiographer, and Secretary Emeritus.   

Photos courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History.