John's parents were Matt and Sanna Elizabeth "Liisa" (Ritari) Maki. John married Amy Aliina (Baakki) on Feb 21, 1924 in Ishpeming, Marquette County, Michigan. Together they had 6 sons.

Written April 15, 1999 by Douglas Mackey: When my dad was younger, before he got married, he said there were too many Maki's including his brothers, around. He wanted to be different, so he arbitrarily decided to change the spelling of his name to Mackey. In those days you didn't need the courts or lawyers to approve your decisions or to make it legal, you just did it and the government really wasn't concerned.

In 1899 my dad's name was written as "Johan Gustaus Maki", all in Finnish on his baptism certificate,
In 1914 his name was written as "Johna Kustaa Maki", all in Finnish on his confirmation certificate.
On 2/18/1924 his name was written as "John Gust Mackey" in English on their marriage certificate.

In 1907 my mother's name was written as "Eini Aliina Puakin" all in Finnish on her baptism certificate.
In 1923 her name was written as "Amy Aliina Paakki" all in Finnish on her confirmation certificate.
On 2/18/1924 her name was written as "Amy Aliina Baakki" in English on their marriage certificate.

My mother was the driving force behind the decision to move out west. When the second World War ended and Lawrence got out of the Navy, Harold got out of the Air Force and Don got out of the Merchant Marines and they all came back to Negaunee they got jobs in the iron ore mines. My mother decided that in no way would her six sons end up as miners working underground in the iron ore mines and convinced my dad that now was the time we should move and make a new start out west somewhere. On April Fools day 1947 we crossed over into Washington and started a very different life in a very different part of the country. My mother wanted to get a farm up around Chehalis, Washington but between my dad and the three older boys they convinced her they didn't want to be farmers and bought a house at 2219 36th Avenue in Longview and went to work for the Longview Fibre Company. It was quite a change that first Christmas, in Negaunee in December you were shoveling snow, but in Longview that first December they were cutting the lawn.

My dads health problems started when he started working underground in the iron ore mines. He worked in the mines for 28 years and probably acquired the start of his lung problems then from breathing in the iron ore and rock dust in the mines (probably the start of silicosis) and he was a smoker. When he use to go out in the woods, he said during his hunting, fishing and checking his trap lines he would cough up a lot of the red iron ore dust that he had breathed in, working underground in the mine. His problems were made worse when he started to work at the Longview Fibre. He worked there for about 18 years, mostly in the ground wood portion of the plant and breathed in a lot of wood dust. Some say that the cellulose in wood dust is even harder on you lungs than the iron ore and rock dust.

I think the official cause of death was emphysema and lung cancer. My mother ask for an autopsy but it was never performed.

Most of his life my dad weighed between 150-170 pounds and was about 5'9".