'It's A Sad Day': Friends, Family Mourn Loss Of Doug McKay
By James Zoltak
Monday, August 25 2003
Monday, August 25 2003
Published on AllBusiness.com
Colleagues and family members remembered the late Doug McKay, owner of Paradise Amusements, Post Falls, Idaho, as a tireless showman who spent hours on end keeping his equipment in top shape.
"He was a conscientious young man, hard working, just a nice guy," said Tom Atkins, co-owner of Austin, Texas-based Mighty Thomas Carnival Inc., where McKay and his brother, Wayne, booked games and rides for several years. "His dad [the late Robert McKay, who owned McKay Enterprises for more than four decades] liked tinkering, liked to fix things. We called him 'Scrap Iron' McKay because he could fix anything and Doug was quite a bit the same. He liked to tinker and work on things."
McKay was killed Aug. 16, after his hand and hair were caught in one of the cars on his Super Loop 2 roller coaster-type ride at the Island County Fair in Langley, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, said his sister, Eva McKay-Andrews. She said her 40-year-old brother, who was struck and dragged upward by the car before falling onto a fence set up around the ride, apparently was trying to lubricate a squeaky wheel when the accident occurred. His death comes roughly two years after his father succumbed to pancreatic cancer.
"Their family is the exemplary American carnival family," said John Hanschen, another co-owner of Mighty Thomas Carnival. "Doug was always interested in equipment, rides, how they worked, how they loaded and unloaded. We had various opportunities to work together with him and his brother, Wayne. We worked with the whole family. We have always been friends with them and we were just shocked to hear this news."
Hanschen, who recalled McKay as "soft-spoken and knowledgeable," said the death of such a well-liked colleague, however many miles away, affected his staff.
"When you know somebody like that, it suddenly becomes real quiet around your show," he said. "You think about the times you spent with him and the dangers and risks. When somebody you know well goes down, it's a sad day. We knew him since he was a teenager."
Bob Hauser, co-owner of West Coast Amusements out of Langley, B.C., recalled how one of his truck drivers was stuck on the side of a Washington road a few years ago with a busted water pump belt. McKay, on his way to another date on his own route, just happened to be driving by in one of his rigs. He unhitched his trailer and took the stranded driver 40 miles back to the nearest town where he paid for the belt. Then he drove the man back to his rig and installed it.
"He didn't know my driver from Adam, and he still took three or four hours from his busy schedule," Hauser said. "There's not a lot of people out there that would do that for you."
McKay-Andrews said her
"He was a conscientious young man, hard working, just a nice guy," said Tom Atkins, co-owner of Austin, Texas-based Mighty Thomas Carnival Inc., where McKay and his brother, Wayne, booked games and rides for several years. "His dad [the late Robert McKay, who owned McKay Enterprises for more than four decades] liked tinkering, liked to fix things. We called him 'Scrap Iron' McKay because he could fix anything and Doug was quite a bit the same. He liked to tinker and work on things."
McKay was killed Aug. 16, after his hand and hair were caught in one of the cars on his Super Loop 2 roller coaster-type ride at the Island County Fair in Langley, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, said his sister, Eva McKay-Andrews. She said her 40-year-old brother, who was struck and dragged upward by the car before falling onto a fence set up around the ride, apparently was trying to lubricate a squeaky wheel when the accident occurred. His death comes roughly two years after his father succumbed to pancreatic cancer.
"Their family is the exemplary American carnival family," said John Hanschen, another co-owner of Mighty Thomas Carnival. "Doug was always interested in equipment, rides, how they worked, how they loaded and unloaded. We had various opportunities to work together with him and his brother, Wayne. We worked with the whole family. We have always been friends with them and we were just shocked to hear this news."
Hanschen, who recalled McKay as "soft-spoken and knowledgeable," said the death of such a well-liked colleague, however many miles away, affected his staff.
"When you know somebody like that, it suddenly becomes real quiet around your show," he said. "You think about the times you spent with him and the dangers and risks. When somebody you know well goes down, it's a sad day. We knew him since he was a teenager."
Bob Hauser, co-owner of West Coast Amusements out of Langley, B.C., recalled how one of his truck drivers was stuck on the side of a Washington road a few years ago with a busted water pump belt. McKay, on his way to another date on his own route, just happened to be driving by in one of his rigs. He unhitched his trailer and took the stranded driver 40 miles back to the nearest town where he paid for the belt. Then he drove the man back to his rig and installed it.
"He didn't know my driver from Adam, and he still took three or four hours from his busy schedule," Hauser said. "There's not a lot of people out there that would do that for you."
McKay-Andrews said her
