Douglas Harris

Douglas Donald Harris, 74, passed peacefully on Jan. 31, 2026, from complications of an advanced thymoma and injuries from a fall. He was surrounded by his five children and the sounds of Hank Williams, Sam Cooke, and Appalachian hymns.  

In the wake of losing his North Star, Gael Harris, two-and-a-half years prior, Doug’s retirement was a slow and gentle return to her.  

Born in 1951 in Missoula to Warren and Phyllis Harris, Doug grew up in the University District and attended Paxon Grade School, at a time when sawdust from the city’s lumber mill roots still lingered.

A fourth-generation Montanan, Doug spent much of his childhood being marginally successful at staying out of trouble behind his older sister, Mary. In penance, he washed cars at his father’s Buick, Jeep and Opel dealership.

In his youth, Doug earned the Life Scout rank, and was a talented basketball and baseball player and all-around athlete. He also played the trumpet and acted. He graduated from Hellgate High School in 1970.  

That fall, Doug enrolled at the University of Montana as an Army ROTC cadet and a member of UM’s Sigma Chi Fraternity. He treasured deep bonds with his fraternity brothers that lasted throughout his life.

At UM, Doug majored in Spanish and history, and minored in dances and keggers. He graduated summa cum laude in 1974. At the Wilma one evening, Doug was awe-struck by the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi and Theta Rho, Gael Howard Mullen, which marked the beginning of a 50-year love affair.  

After college, Doug pulled off the greatest deal of his life by persuading Gael to withdraw from Cumberland Law School in Birmingham, AL, and marry him. They tied the knot in Shreveport, LA, shortly thereafter.  

They spent the next four years at U.S. Army posts; Fort Lewis, WA; Fort Benning, GA; Fort Huachuca, AZ and Fort Bragg, NC. Doug was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in Military Intelligence and was honorably discharged in 1978 as a Captain. He was awarded an Army Commendation Medal as a Strategic Intelligence Officer for “exceptional performance and a rare ability to accomplish a myriad of tasks under continuous pressure.”  

The next post for Doug was Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, WA. Doug and Gael had two children, Judson and Lauren, in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Doug earned his Juris Doctor cum laude in 1981. He was proud of his Jesuit legal education, grounded in service to others.

The family then moved to Bozeman, where Doug opened private practice for six years and the family added daughters Jenny in 1984 and Grace in 1986. Doug and Gael then moved to Missoula and added one more girl in 1992 for good measure, Shelby Lee.

For 45 years, Doug was a counselor at law to anyone who needed one, dispensing legal wisdom, personal guidance and the occasional rescue from a night in the slammer. He took on diverse land and water access battles, crime, adoptions, business and family matters. He often took payment in the form of firewood, cars and carpentry – the fruits of which he applied in stewarding the Harris Cabin on Lindbergh Lake, his other great love.  

Doug’s military training was a defining characteristic of rearing the Harris children. He instructed on the value of wool socks and a stocked first aid kit as he literally marched his children into wilderness competency. He ensured his children could tell where the sun came up and went down.  

Held as an infant by Louis NinePipes, Doug had a connection with many Flathead tribal members and families, both as a friend and legal counsel. He was devoted to Indian Country and nurtured a deep respect for sovereign nations, and their histories.

A story he recounted many times over, which was one of Doug’s great triumphs, was when he packed the Missoula County Commissioner’s office with The Tribal Council of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai and the Supervisor of the U.S. Region 1 Forest Service. The effort retained the prescriptive public right-of-way to the Jocko Trail. Doug cited Hellgate Treaty rights that pre-dated statehood.  

Doug was active in the Missoula Kiwanis Club and a member of the Missoula Masonic Lodge, and basketball club at the Elks Lodge. He found a steady spiritual home and community at Holy Spirit Parish, singing as an alto tenor in the church choir for many years.  

Doug was competitive and direct, but a sensitive man. He had an unusual ability to relate easily to all ages and different perspectives, while not getting too involved or succumbing to the bluff from fellow sharks in his line of work. He was earnestly curious and perceptive about the needs of others.  

With the same prompt that accompanied his office voicemail — “to state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” — comes this testimony: Doug was a beautiful man with a presence larger than life. He was a devoted husband and father, and a true son of Montana’s wide skies.  

As Doug would sign his post: May God bless you and keep you. Over and out.  

He is survived by his five children and eight grandchildren: son Judson Harris (Shannon) and granddaughter Fallon; daughter Lauren Hummel (Karl) and granddaughters Charlotte and Amelia; daughter Jenny Lavey (John) and grandsons Samuel and Wesley; daughter Grace Gardner (Landon) and grandchildren Sawyer, Hazel and Banks; and daughter Shelby Lee Rininger (Sam). Doug is also survived by his sister, Mary Kalfoss.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Missoula. Memorials can be mailed to the Sigma Chi Foundation to P.O. Box 8874 in Missoula, and the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church. Or, toast to Doug at the Mo Club.  

Correspondence can be mailed to:  

Lauren Hummel

207 Rimrock Way

Missoula, Montana, 59801