McKay, Harriet (1896-1949)
McKay, Douglas (1894-1949)

Harriet Mills McKay was born on November 6, 1896. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Mills. She graduated from Park River High School and later from the University of North Dakota in 1920 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Harriet married Douglas McKay soon after her graduation. Harriet died on August 13, 1949, and is buried in San Francisco. Harriet won national recognition for her poetry and at the time of her death her poems were in high demand by magazines with a national circulation.

Douglas McKay was born on August 21, 1894, in St. Thomas, North Dakota. He graduated from UND in 1917 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He was inducted to the military on September 19, 1917, and was discharged February 2, 1919, as a 2nd Lieutenant. In 1937 he and his family (wife Harriet and children Mary and Robert) moved to the Philippines and he became the manager-director of a gold mine. They fled at the outbreak of WWII and went into hiding with guerillas in the jungle for nearly two years, returning to the U.S. in 1944. In 1947 they returned to the Philippines but were forced to once again return to the U.S. in 1948 due to poor health. Douglas died on May 28, 1949, and is also buried in San Francisco.

Olive Mills, Harriet’s older sister, graduated from UND in 1917 with a Bachelor of Arts in teaching. She taught in Wisconsin and Washington. In 1928 she married F. G. Dawson, a prominent business man, who died young. After the death of her husband she remarried to Dr. G. G. Moe and they lived in Vancouver. She died in 1986.

University of North Dakota - Alumni
University of North Dakota - Student Life