(There are several conflicting dates for her birth)

By her own account, Katherine Mary Fallon, was born in 1891 in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway

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Katherine Mary O'Fallon was born in Ireland, immigrating to Boston as a young girl.

According to the novel Mrs. Mike, a fictionalized account of her life, in 1906 she was sent to Calgary to live with an uncle due to pleurisy. There, she met Sergeant Mike Flannigan of the North West Mounted Police. They married and then travelled by dogteam to the detachment at Hudson's Hope. In time they moved to Grouard where Flannigan assumed a wide variety of police duties. The story of "Mrs. Mike" is that of a young woman married to a Canadian Mountie who was himself married to the NWMP, the North and its peoples. The couple experience many hardships living in the Peace Country a century ago. An epidemic of diphtheria strikes while they are in Grouard, claiming both their children. In the book, she leaves Mike and returns to Boston. In Boston she has an epiphany and comes to understand her husband's calling and sense of duty. She returns to him in Grouard, and the book ends with the couple adopting three children.

In reality, Mike Flannigan did not exist, although Katherine Mary experienced many of the same hardships. In her early twenties, she had two young children with James Rupert Best of Nova Scotia. Both children, Mary (born 1908) and Ralph (born 1909) died in an epidemic in Winnipeg in 1912. She separated from Best and he died in 1918.

Katherine Mary lived for a time in Peace River Crossing. She married John Knox and they lived in Drumheller, Calgary, and Vancouver. They informally adopted three of Knox's nephews and nieces, including one with First Nations heritage. After the publication of Mrs. Mike she wrote The Faith of Mrs. Kelleen, which was set in 1880s Ireland and based on the story of her great-aunt.

Katherine Mary died on 8 August 1954 while visiting friends in Calgary. Her obituary appeared in the New York Times two days later.

The Book

Benedict and Nancy Freedman co-authored Mrs. Mike, based on stories told to them by Katherine Mary Knox. It was published in the United States in 1947 to critical success and has been constantly in print since. In 1949 it was made into a movie of the same name, starring Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes. The movie is loosely based on the book, with some changes. For example, Hudson's Hope becomes Hendrik's Hope and Grouard becomes Fort Minette. It was filmed in California. Knox sued the movie producers and authors for $25,000, the suit was dismissed because she had a legal claim only against the authors, not the producers.