Fair Meeks

Fair's Memorial Service can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/746964875

Ella Fair Meeks "Fair" died on September 2, 2022 at SMP Health-St. Catherine North in Fargo, ND. Fair was born October 7, 1928 to Theodore Jackson and Ella Fair Caldwell in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fair graduated from the Women's College of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She studied in Germany and England and received her doctorate in English at Moorhead State University. She taught at Moorhead State University from 1967 to 1976 after which she was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach American Literature at Nanjing University in Beijing, China.

In 2003 Fair was ordained as an American Baptist minister. She served as an associate pastor in her home church, First Baptist in Fargo, ND, and then pastored Methodist churches for a short time in Balaton, MN and Perham/Dent, MN.

Fair was married to Benjamin Spencer Meeks, Jr. on June 10, 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina. They traveled extensively around the world, living in Indonesia for 5 years, in England, Germany, and Bangladesh. Their lives were enriched by the numerous cruises and birding trips they were able to take.

Fair was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and two children, Fair Alexander "Sandi" Rankin and Benjamin Spencer Meeks III.

She is survived by two granddaughters, Leah Fair Rankin and Lindsey Agnes Rankin and three great-grandchildren, Elizabeth Fair Lane, Emily Kate Lane, and Adrian Michael Lane.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 AM, at First Baptist Church in Fargo, ND, Friday, September 9, followed by lunch at the church. Her ashes will be interred at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN.

Memorials may be sent to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship or First Baptist Church.