Auckland pharmacist and All Black farewelled

He was a hugely respected man on and off the field, he loved the game, his family and where he lived

Former North Shore pharmacist and All Black Don McKay was farewelled today in Devonport with a service at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, where he was christened. Mr McKay passed away on Waitangi Day at the age of 86 after a long battle with ill health.

Mr McKay originally didn’t want to be a pharmacist but ended up loving the role and managed to fit it in alongside being heavily involved in rugby and raising a family. He owned Don McKay Pharmacy on Hauraki Corner for over 40 years.

His wife, Judy McKay, says he originally wanted to be a doctor but couldn’t afford it so trained as a pharmacist with the goal of studying medicine later.

Mrs McKay says her husband attended lectures after work then would train under streetlights to practise goal kicking. “He was determined to get somewhere in life and was prepared to work for it,” she explains.

Plans to become a doctor went by the wayside when he became an All Black and life got busy.

In 2000 he told Pharmacy Today he had to be well organised to get to training sessions at Eden Park under coach Fred Allan.

“I had the VW parked at the back door and was in my tracksuit before the pharmacy closed. I even did my warm-up in the shop.”

Mr McKay was All Blacks number 618 and was a speedy winger. The New Zealand Barbarian Rugby Club (the Barbarians) website says he played 12 games, including five tests from 1961 to 1963.

He scored a try the first time he touched the ball during his first test match at Eden Park in Auckland in 1961 against France.

For Auckland, he scored 32 tries in 85 games between 1958 and 1966.

Mr McKay became a member of the Barbarians in 1966 and was president of the club from 1998 to 1999. He was also a life member of North Shore Rugby Football Club and the Auckland Rugby Union, where he served as president from 2008 to 2010.

North Shore Rugby Football Club life member Simon Gundry says Mr McKay was the first All Black at the club, which was formed in 1873.

He says Mr McKay was loyal to the club and when its top team was threatened with being relegated to B-section he famously sent a telegram: “Win, lose or draw, I’ll always play for Shore.”

Mr Gundry says Mr McKay loved rugby, was very family orientated and was proud to have been an All Black. He served as a coach and administrator after being an All Black.

“He realised he was part of a bigger picture in regards to the game,” he explains.

Mr Gundry, a North Shore businessman, says he would visit Mr McKay at his pharmacy on Hauraki Corner to pick up his prescriptions and chat about rugby.

“He was a hugely respected man on and off the field, he loved the game, his family and where he lived.”

Despite being a reluctant pharmacist, Mrs McKay says her husband came to enjoy the job “immensely” because he liked helping people.

Often customers would go to Mr McKay first for medical advice. He would either treat them or recommend they see a doctor.

Mrs McKay worked alongside him at the pharmacy, and his old rugby mates used to come into the store. “It was like a big family for him,” she says.

The couple took their family to England when their children were young, where Mr McKay coached teams such as the Harlequin Football Club in London and contributed to the development of youth rugby at the London Welsh rugby club.

Mrs McKay has fond memories of travelling around Europe with three small children in tow in a Bedford pop-up van, where the children slept in hammocks.

She also remembers the couple’s trips to Thailand, outback Australia and Melbourne with Auckland Drug, the pharmaceutical company of the time. They looked at the medicines in use in those places but also loved the company and getting to know other pharmacists.

MedPlus Pharmacy owner Anne-Marie Reidy, who worked for Mr McKay and bought the pharmacy from him when he retired in 2006, says he was very well liked and was always up for a chat about rugby.

Mrs Reidy says he also looked after “the underdog”. She remembers him feeding and finding employment for people who were almost homeless.

“He made sure they had a sandwich and would give them cash to wash his car. He was the real salt of the earth,” she says.

Lynne McVicar was a retail assistant at Don McKay Pharmacy over about 40 years, with a 12-year break to have children. She says Mr McKay was a “people person” who treated staff like family and opened his home at Mairangi Bay and bach at Mangawhai, north of Auckland, to them.

Mr McKay had a lot of nationalities working for him and held a dinner where all the staff wore traditional costumes and brought food from their home countries.

He embraced customers in a similar way and was a very generous pharmacist. If people couldn’t afford something he would provide it for them, “without fanfare”, explains Mrs McVicar. He couldn’t have done it without the help of his wife Judy, who was “his right-hand man”, she says.

Fridays and Mondays were busy at the pharmacy because rugby players would come in on Fridays to get Mr McKay’s pick for the games that weekend. They’d pop in again on Mondays to chat about how the games had gone.

One of those was Nik Botica, dad of former All Black Frano Botica. He says Mr McKay was “always a gentleman”. The pair always caught up at the finals matches of North Shore Rugby Football Club.

Mr Botica says Mr McKay was a “fast winger” and he was a “slow prop”. He says he had an amazing rugby career and contributed a lot to the game, including as a coach. Mr McKay never got paid for being an All Black: “It was just for the love of it.”

Mr McKay is survived by his wife, Judy, three children and their spouses, and eight grandchildren.