Photo: Carol Doig
THE ESTATE OF IVAN DOIG
“One of the great American voices, full of grace, abounding in humanity, easeful in narration, hypnotic in pace, grand in range.” — Thomas Keneally.
Ivan Clark Doig (pronounced DOY-guh), a third-generation Montanan of Scottish descent, was born on June 27, 1939 in White Sulphur Springs, Montana and was the only child of Charlie Doig and Berneta Ringer Doig. After his mother passed away from asthma on Doig’s sixth birthday, he was raised by his father and his grandmother, Bessie Ringer. Doig’s father earned a living as a ranch foreman and sheep herder, consequently settling his family in Dupuyer, Montana near the Rocky Mountain Front, where many of Doig’s books are set.
In the fall of 1957, by means of a full scholarship, Doig moved to Evanston, Illinois to attend Northwestern University where he earned a bachelor’s degree (1961) and a master’s degree in Journalism (1962). His master’s thesis was about televised congressional hearings on organized crime. Upon completion of his master’s, Doig penned editorials for the Lindsay-Schaub newspaper chain in Decatur, then served as assistant editor of The Rotarian magazine in Evanston. Doig met his wife, Carol Muller, while they were students at the Medill School of Journalism. In 1966, the Doig’s left Illinois to return west, settling in Seattle, Washington.
Doig began writing what would become his first critically acclaimed work THIS HOUSE OF SKY in the early 1970s. While Doig drew upon childhood experiences to craft his memoir, he also conducted a series of interviews and spent countless hours researching. Published in 1978, THIS HOUSE OF SKY was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Christopher Award. Unfortunately neither Doig’s father, who passed away in 1971 from emphysema, nor his grandmother, who suffered a heart attack three years later, would see the success of the memoir.
After the success of THIS HOUSE OF SKY, Doig would go on to write a companion volume HEART EARTH and also WINTER BROTHERS: A SEASON AT THE EDGE OF AMERICA, based on a pioneer's diary. Then he turned to novels: from 1982 until his death, he published eight works of fiction, including THE MONTANA TRILOGY and THE WHISTLING SEASON. In 2007, he received the coveted Wallace Stegner Award in 2007 which recognizes someone who has “made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West.” THIS HOUSE OF SKY, along with Doig’s other works, earned him a lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association in 1989.
In 2001, Doig was diagnosed with MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance), a disease without active cancer cells but that contains two of the seven symptoms of multiple myeloma; in 2006, multiple myeloma announced itself for certain. Ivan wrote five of his novels while battling the disease; his final novel LAST BUS TO WISDOM was published in 2015. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 9, 2015 at his home in Seattle, Washington.
In October 2015, Carol Doig donated her husband's extensive holding of notes, photos and records of his writing to the Montana State University Library Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections. The Ivan Doig Archive consists of manuscripts, proofs and galleys, typed and handwritten writing fragments, pocket notebooks, note cards, diaries, journals, photographs, audio/visual material, and memorabilia.
