(19 Aug. 1865-8 May 1939), high school principal. (Old MacKay) (Kay rhymed with by not bay) Born in Goderich, Ont. Parents: Sutherland MacKay and his wife Elizabeth Maclean. Donald went to Toronto with his family when he was a child, and was educated in Toronto, receiving his M. A., University of Toronto, 1887. He taught at Carleton Place and at Williamstown (see John Ford Macdonald) before coming to Alexandria (principal 1893-1894 at Williamstown High School). Thereafter, he was the principal of Alexandria High School from Jan. 1895 till he retired in 1934–a period of almost 40 years. He was given a reception in Alexandria in Sept. 1920, to mark the 25th anniversary of his becoming principal. Another reception was held in June 1935 to honour him following his retirement. In 1935, also, he received the medal issued to mark the 25th anniversary of the coronation of George V. Alexandria was his home in retirement. When he and his wife returned from an extended visit to Douglas, Ariz., in the spring of 1936, they were met at the Alexandria railway station by the students and teachers of the high school. (Glengarry News 10 April 1936) He died at Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal. Burial was in Toronto. At his funeral at the United Church in Alexandria, the pallbearers were all ex-pupils of his: Squadron Leader Martin Costello (son of F. T. Costello), Dr W. B. MacDiarmid, Dr D. D. McIntosh, Dr John Hampton MacIntosh, Clarence Ostrom, and G. A. Campbell, an Ottawa bank manager.

     The Glengarry News obituary said, “A great reader and a highly cultured gentleman, Mr. MacKay’s chief interest in life centered around his school to which he devoted all his time and energy.” The obituary noted also his “love of all things Scottish” and his expertise in the writings of Robert Burns, and stated that MacKay “in middle age seriously took up the study of the Gaelic language.”

     When MacKay became principal, the high school normally had three teachers, including himself; by his retirement, the number had risen to 5. As principal he had an influence in GC that relatively few of his contemporaries could claim. A man of character and kindliness, and of a warm and friendly personality, he was liked as well as respected by his students. A cynic may declare that by custom students are routinely claimed to love their teachers, when in truth most of them do nothing of the sort. Yet in truth, long after his death, “Old MacKay” was remembered by former students with an affection that often surprised a later generation which had not known the man. His gentleness was often contrasted with the severity of J. T. Smith who succeeded him as principal. With whatever degree of contradiction was involved, Glengarrians affirmed the advisability of J. T. Smith’s strictness, but praised MacKay’s mildness (from which, indeed, no disaster seems to have arisen).

     He was married in 1908 to Ida Huxtable, of Toronto. She outlived him, to die in Toronto from burns inflicted when her clothes caught fire when she was making tea. They had no children.

Glengarry News 12 May 1939 (portrait), Standard Freeholder 8 May 1939 * Alexandria High School 1894-1954: 1981 Reunion (1981): various information, recollections, portraits * Ross & Cameron * resigns as principal, GN 13 July 1934 * receptions, medal, GN 10 Sept. 1920, 28 June 1935, 10 May 1935 * obituary of wife, GN 25 April 1952 * MacGillivray & Ross 257 (portrait) * Ostrom 214b * editorial of recollection, tribute, GN 18 Oct. 1956