from Betty Turner's

"Out of the Blue and Into History"

Mimi was born on Ocotber 25, 1919, in San Francisco, California. She grew up in the West. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Reno and Denver were home before Mimi returned to Los Angeles where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Southern California with a BA in English and Drama.

In addition to Mimi's on stage experience, she earned her pilot's license in the Civil Air Patrol training. She heard about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program. She applied and was accepted in the class 44-2. After graduation, Mimi was stationed in Long Beach, Las Vegas, and Riverside. She ferried planes, the BT-13, B-25, and B-24 both as co-pilot, and received training in the B-26 towing targets at which new gunnery recruits practiced their marksmanship.

After deactivation, Mimi continued flying and worked as technical writer for North American Aviation.

Mimi met her husband, Captain B. Segall, Jr., on a blind date in Victorville, California. He was also a piot. After a seven-year courtship, they married on May 23, 1950. They started B's Consulting Engineering Practice, had two children: son Lynn and daughter Michelle Segall Bassett, and settled in a home on the banks of Lake Austin, Austin, Texas.

They also have a granddaughter, Caroline, who inherited a shade of her red hair, outstanding athletic ability and Swedish/Irish heritage.

Besides being a mother and home manager, she gave her service in the first "Headstart" program, the Old Confederate Home and innumerable activities in support of the kids' education and sports. Mimi helped found and guide the early years of St. Michael's Episcopal Church while she grew spiritually stronger.

Most weekends found Mimi and husband B, golfing at the Austin Country Club, or moving cattle along Red Bluff Creek near Spicewood. They shared a love of aviation, fly fishing, golf and golden retrievers--but most of all, love of each other, which endured for all their lives.

In 1973, they started flying again when they acquired a Cessna 180. Finally gave it up in the spring of 1998, didn't want to trust their luck any longer, despite 55 years of experience between them.

Mimi enjoyed her last summer in the cool of Colorado Rockies at Pearl Lakes Trout Club. Mimi made her final flight on September 28, 1999.

________

Some of her WASP experiences are documented in Wanda Langley's "Flying Higher, the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II"