A Pioneer for Women: Jesse Mieghen’s Legacy Lives on at West Greene
When a West Greene athletic program won a championship, Athletic Director Bill Simms knew that he would have a handwritten note on his desk. This note would come from Jesse Meighen, a pioneer for women’s athletics at West Greene. She not only had a big impact on Simms’ life, but opened the door for many women and girls in athletics and dance.
“After every championship, Mrs. Meighen would send handwritten notes to me saying ‘I’m proud to tell everyone that I was your teacher’,” Simms says. “It is truly understated how much she meant to so many people. She was very important in my life and gave girls opportunities in women’s sports before they were sponsored by the WPIAL and PIAA.”
Born in 1920, Jesse Meighen grew up in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, graduating with the class of 1938 from Waynesburg High School. Following graduation, she attended Slippery Rock University, where she majored in Health & Physical Education and minored in mathematics. She graduated from Slippery Rock in 1943 and her professional career brought her back home to Greene County.
The West Greene School District hired her in 1963, where she taught Health, Physical Education, and Physiology for 25 years. Simms, who is a 1988 graduate of West Greene High School, recalls the structure she brought to the classroom and how she opened their eyes to new opportunities.
“She was a very strict teacher and her phys ed class was very structured,” said Simms. “She was big into dance and during phys ed class we would have a full nine weeks devoted to dance. We would do ballroom dancing, square dancing, and it was built into the course. She and Mrs. Jones would force you into doing it, but it was great exposure to something that you have never done before.”
While she was strict and structured with her courses, her students were always at the top of her mind. She cared for each one of the students and was able to bring out a confidence in them that allowed them to reach their highest potential – whether or not they liked dance.
“[Mrs. Meighen] spent a lot of hours before and after school with her students,” says West Green Area School District Superintendent Brian Jackson. “She was always dedicated to her students, especially those who wanted to learn and get better.”
Growing up, Meighen had a passion for dance that started at four and continued throughout her life. She opened dance studios in Waynesburg, Carmichaels, and Cameron, West Virginia. During her 25-year tenure at West Greene, she passed her love of dance to her students, making it an integral part of her classes. She helped choreograph school musicals both during and after her tenure as a teacher, as well as sponsoring the school’s dance and drill teams. It was a way to expose the students to arts and culture in a way that they would never have had the opportunity otherwise.
“I always thought it made a big difference in a girl’s development because back then they weren’t so conscious about physical activity,” said Meighen in an interview with Mary Staun in the story “Born to Dance: Jesse Reed Meighen. “I always thought that whether they became a good dancer or not, it helped develop their grace and poise and made them self confident.”
Along with her love of dance, Meighen also saw an opportunity for women on the athletic field. She served as the sponsor of the initial West Greene Girls Athletic Association, which provided females the opportunity to compete in various activities against other schools. She opened the door for women as the Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach, breaking down walls previously built preventing girls in athletics.
“Someone has got to open the wall and Mrs. Meighen was that person, seeing an opportunity to give our girls a chance in athletics,” Simms says. “When she was 98 years old, we brought her out for the school send-off as the softball team went to the WPIAL finals and gave her a medal from the softball championship.”
To commemorate her 25 years of service to West Greene High School, and to thank her for pioneering young women in athletics, in 2023 Meighen was given the highest honor the athletic department can give. She was named as a member of the West Greene Pioneer Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2022-2023 at the “young age of 102.” Even in her death, Meighen continues to give back to West Greene, asking that instead of flowers, memorial contributions be made to both the Slippery Rock University Alumni Association and the West Greene High School Athletic Department.
“When we inducted her into the Pioneer Athletic Hall of Fame, she was 102 and still very spry,” Simms says. “Her family was highly involved, and it was great to be able to honor her as a beloved former teacher. Since her recent passing, [we’ve gotten] five checks… totaling $1,350, in her memory.”
Jesse Meighen affected many lives throughout her career, and it was her love of dance that drove her to open the door for many young women. Even those who weren’t into dance fell in love with Mrs. Meighen. She will forever be a Pioneer.
“When you think about it, when I quit my dancing school and went into teaching, I wouldn’t have liked it at all if I couldn’t teach dance in high school,” Meighen said. “I [taught] dance when I opened my first dancing school, and I stopped at 80 years old when I taught seven routines for “Bye Bye Birdie” at West Greene High School. Not every child that took dance was a dancer, but you can always see something, and I am so glad that so many of the students will say to me I wasn’t very good, but I still love to dance.”
