David O. McKay - Early Life

Early Life

The third child of David McKay and Jennette Eveline Evans McKay, David Oman McKay was born on his father’s farm in Huntsville, Utah Territory, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Ogden. McKay's mother, Jennette, was a Welsh immigrant from Merthyr Tydfil, and his father was a Scottish immigrant. In 1880, after McKay’s two older sisters died, his father was called on an LDS mission to his native home of Scotland, where he proselyted for two years. In his father's absence, McKay took on additional family responsibilities to help his mother.

McKay's grandmother bequeathed $5000 to McKay's mother upon her death and directed that "every cent...be used for the education of the children." This money allowed McKay and his brother Thomas to attend the University of Utah. McKay graduated in 1897 as valedictorian and class president. Immediately afterward he was called on a mission to Great Britain. Like his father, he presided over the Scottish district of the church.

Upon his return in fall 1899, McKay taught at the high school level at LDS Weber Stake Academy (the predecessor of Weber State University) and became principal in 1902. He married Emma Ray Riggs in the Salt Lake Temple on January 2, 1901. They eventually had seven children, one of whom died as a young child.

For his first three years at Weber, McKay taught mainly religion and literature classes. On April 17, 1902 McKay was appointed principal of Weber succeeding Louis F. Moench, the founding principal who had resigned after nine years at the helm of the institution. One of his first actions as principal was the organize a school paper.

McKay also oversaw the inauguration of sports programs at Weber. In 1905 they won their baseball game against the University of Utah. There were also men's and women's basketball teams organized during McKay's tenure.

In 1905, Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles due to disagreement over the manifesto forbidding polygamy. In early 1906, Apostle Marriner W. Merrill died. With three vacancies in the quorum, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney and McKay were called in the April 1906 General Conference of the church. McKay was 32 years old at the time.

Prior to this calling to a full time church position, McKay had planned on a career in education and educational administration. Even after his calling, McKay stayed active in education. He continued serving as principal of the Weber Stake Academy until 1908 when he was replaced by Wilford M. McKendrick. He stayed on to see new building projects that he had inaugurated completed. He also served on the Weber school's board of trustees until 1922 and on the University of Utah's board of regents from 1921 to 1922.

McKay enjoyed a long personal friendship with John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune (1924–1960). They would meet once a week for breakfast to discuss the betterment of the state of Utah. Fitzpatrick, the architect of the Newspaper Agency Corporation, a joint operating agreement between the Salt Lake Tribune (Kearns Corporation) and the LDS Church-owned Deseret News, consulted extensively with McKay to form this mutually beneficial business in 1952.