Damn.
Ivan Doig, one of Montana’s most gifted and favored sons, passed away early today at his Seattle home after an eight year battle with multiple myeloma.
He was 75, born in White Sulphur Springs in 1939, earning his stripes in post-depression Montana and spending some of those hard-scrabble years literally under the Big Sky working as a ranch hand.
Doig left the state to pursue undergraduate and masters degrees in journalism (Northwestern) and later a Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington.
Doig truly began to steal hearts when in 1979 he penned This House of Sky: Landscapes of the Western Mind, recounting his ‘growing up years’ along the northern spine of the Rocky Mountains. Two more non-fiction works followed: Winter Brothers and Heart Earth.
Doig then delved into fiction work, writing at least a dozen more major works, four while engaged in battle with his cancer, most of which were set in Montana or featuring characters with a tie to the state.
His last – Last Bus to Wisdom – is set to be released in August.
She Who Must Be Obeyed and Jake met him several years ago at a book signing in Kalispell at The Bookshelf on Main Street. I was held captive at the clinic and couldn’t get down there, but his warmth and kindness to her and what was then a shy pre-teen brought a tear to her eye today as we waited in traffic and first heard of Doig’s passing.
If you have any interest whatsoever in Western-framed literary works, Doig is a must read. SWMBO would argue you should start with This House of Sky and read them all in chronological order to embrace his development as a weaver of prose.
I say just grab one and go to it – you’ll be back for the rest.
Rest in peace, Mr. Doig.
Damn.
