Haughey started out as an art student at the University of Kansas in the early 1930s, but after two years he figured he should study something with a more secure income. "So I changed to liberal arts and went to work in Texas for a year to save enough money to go to medical school to become a psychiatrist,” Haughey said. But his plans changed after he married, and he opted for law school instead so he could graduate sooner. After receiving his law degree, he discovered he could make more money doing land work for Exxon than working as an attorney in Kansas so he started with Exxon and was transferred to Billings. He eventually went to work for the Crowley Law Firm (now Crowley Haughey Hanson Toole and Dietrich), which was representing Exxon at the time. Haughey met LeRoy Greene soon after moving to Billings and Greene became Haughey's teacher and one of his closest friends. "I showed him some drawings I'd done in college and he said, 'Come paint with me.' So I did. He was a great teacher and a very fine painter. He taught me more than I learned in art school. I owe more to him than to the professors at my art school.” The two became a driving force in the local art scene, ensuring that fine art had a permanent place in the city's culture. Haughey is a member of the American Watercolor Society and once served as its vice president, a matter of pride for the prolific painter. He has been accepted into four AWS shows in New York and his work can be seen in community buildings around Billings, the Carbon County Arts Guild in Red Lodge and a number of private collections in the region. "Watercolor is not so rigid; it moves, depending on the paper, even the humidity of the day, it changes. With oil or solid media, mostly, you put it down and it just stays there. There isn't that element of chance.”