He was born in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, the son of James Meakes and Elsie Butcher, both natives of England.
During 1948, he worked at the International Nickel Plant in Sudbury but he returned to farming the following year.
[2] Meakes served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Cooperation and Co-operative Development.
He also was a director for the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation and served on the executive for the Parkland Regional Library Board.
[1] Meakes was married twice: first to Mary Luthi in 1943 and then to Margaret (Lazar) Horn in 1977 after the death of his first wife.