Lögberg-Heimskringla - 25.04.1980, Blaðsíða 5

Lögbertr-Heimskringla. föstudagur 25. apríl. 1980
5
Valdimar Björnsson writes csmit. iro«n page 3
daughter, who were par-
ticularly close to their Aunt
Sigrid.
Siggi — and those oi other
backgrounds called her that
always, just as Icelanders
did — was for many years a
member and soloist in the
choir of St. Paul’s Icelandic
Lutheran church, active in
its ladies’ organization and
in the affairs of the com-
munity. She was quick in
her movements, energetic,
determined, a true friend of
those with whom she formed
ties, dependable and self-
sacrificing, and her passing
was mourned by all who
knew her. Sigga was
bookkeeper at The Big Store
in Minneota, so named at its
founding as actually the
biggest mercantiie est-
ablishment in all south-
western Minnesota. It has
been closed down now for
some time, and is being
converted to a historical
museum for the community.
Olafur G. Anderson was the
name of the man who
founded the Big Store in
1896, after he had been a
farmer for a time following
his arrival from Iceland in
1879. Sigga began working
there some time after the
turn of the century and her
extensive career of service
reached a total of 60 years
before she retired.
Olafur, founder of the
store,. took with him as
partners on its opening, his
brother, Sigurjon — called
J. S. Anderson — and
Sigurdur A. Anderson, who
was actually Vigfusson
Andressonar from Vop-
nafjardarheidi in Iceland.
Sigurdur and Eirikur
Stefansson, retired teacher
in Reykjavik, were first
cousins. Olafur was one of
six brothers and sisters from
Buastadir in Vopnafjordur,
all of them moving westward
in 1879. His surname was
Arngrimsson, but the family
took the Anderson name.
Olafur’s father — and
Olafur himselí died in 1903,
just 44 years of age — was
Arngrimur Eymundsson and
his mother was Maria
Olafsdottir. Sigfus Hall-
dorsson, the composer,
íearned a good deal about
these kinsmen of his when
he came to Minneapolis
now, as it was pointed out to
him that he had a fair
number of relatives in the
cemetery just south of
Minneota. Arngrimur
Eymundsson was' a brother
of the grandfather of Sigfus
the composer — and a
brother, naturally, of Sigfus
Eymundsson, who left
Vopnafjordur for Reykjavik,
becoming a photographer
there and later on founding
the city’s oldest and largest
bookstore, Bokaverzlun
Sigfusar Eymundssonar.
Sigfus told friends in
Alowtareand
kMmd?
imthinktliatis
ami^itygöoddeaL
v Now you can take ádvantage of our $20* a day stopaver tours
of Iceland while you’re taking advantage of our low APEX fare
fromNewYork, Chicago, or Baltimore/Washington to Great
Britain or Scandinavia. And $20* is a small price to pay to visit one i
of the most inféresting countries in the world.
Iceland is a land of volcanoes, Viking museums, gjaciers, . 1
geysers, cdncérts, art shows, duty-free shópping and hot-spring |
póols. And it’s afi yours for 1 to 3 days for just $20* a day.
That price includes room with bath/shower at the nrst class
Hotel Loftleidír, transfers between flotel and airport, a sightseeing
trip and two meals daily.
So on your next trip to Nörway, Sweden, Denmark or Great
Britain, why not stop over in Jceland for a few days? Puffins
highly recommend that you do so. And Puffins are never wrong.
For further information see your travel agent or contact
Icelandair, P.O. Boxl05, Wesf Hempstead, NY11552. Phone
212-757-8585 (New York City only) or call 800-555-1212 for
the toll-free number in your area. •pricesineffectoct.ithru
April 30,1980 íiid subject to change.
BLofest NewsVB
RIErllT«€
A TRAGIC ACCIDENT
A young man from
Akureyri by the name of
Herbert Hansen was among
those who perished when
the oilrig Alexander L.
Kielland toppled over in the
North Sea in the last week of
March. Quite a number of
Icelanders have been
working in this area for the
last few years. Icelandic
papers have published a
number of accounts given by
these people of what has
been described as Norway’s
worst accident in the
century — an accident
which took the lives of a
number of their friends.
Following is a brief
summary of these accounts:
The 212 men aboard the Alexander L. Kielland, a
floating hotel in Norway’s North Sea oil fields, were
relaxing one evening in the last week of March. Some
had gone to bed already, and in the cinema a Western
had just started. Then a sudden gale blew up from the
North Atlantic. Winds of 50 knots whipped up 25-foot
seas, and one of the Kielland’s supports collapsed
under the strain. Within minutes, the entire structure
turned upside down. Most of the workers were tossed
into the freezing waters; some were trapped inside. As
survivor Thore Olsen, a 55-year-old Norwegian,
described it: “I heard a crash like thunder. The rig
shook. I ran out with just my undershorts and a coat
and jumped into a lifeboat. But as we lowered, the
whole rig toppled over. Twenty-five of us spent eleven
and a half hours in that lifeboat. It was hell.”
Vanished Hope: Mayday calls from the stricken rig
launched a massive rescue operation from Britain and
Norway. Within 24 hours, 45 ships supported by
planes and helicopters from five nations were combing
a 2,250-square-mile area of the North Sea. In the early
hours of the search, they managed to rescue some 89
survivors and recover 40 bodies. By the weekend,
however, hope had vanished for the remaining 83
workers from the Kielland. The search was aban-
doned. “We know that many drowned,” explained one
of the rescue co-ordinators at Stavanger, the Nor-
wegian port where the operation was headquartered.
“They couldn’t survive in the cold water, and at 6 to 7
degrees centigrade, they had an hour, at most, to
live.” All told, 123 men are presumed dead in the
worst disaster ever to befall an offshore oil rig.
Initially, officials could only guess that metal fatigue
had caused the fatal collapse. The Kielland was a
10.500-ton floating platform with five struts supporting
a fourstory, 134-foot-high structure resting on sub-
merged pontoons. The pontoons were attached by
wires down into the sea bed. Once a drilling rig, the
structure had been converted into an offshore rest
area — a “flotel” in oil-industry jargon — for workers
at Phillips Petroleum Co.’s North Sea wells. According
to Sverre Nielsen, director of a drilling firm that leases
several such rigs to oil companies, the flotels had been
“performing very well under very rough conditions.”
• PöhktAb •
- ■ - - • r ■ - _____
Herbert Hansen
Minneapolis as the
musicians’ tour was
beginning here that he had
been hearing more about
this distinguished kinsman
and namesake of his, Sigfus
Eymundsson, in recent
years than he had heard as
a boy. Naturally, he hadn’t
heard about all the kinfolk
that had moved to Minneota
so long ago, and for that
matter, in those years there
wasn’t much of any contact
on Sigfus Eymundsson’s part
with kinsmen in America.
Still, there was a sister of
that Sigfus, Helga
Evmundsdottir, who went
along with the family from
Buastadir when they moved
over here, and she is buried
at Minneota. The children of
Arngimur and Maria were
born at a little farmstead
long since abandoned —
Holl was its name, located
actually in the meadowland
of the bigger farm,
Hauksstadir. Their home
was the nearby farmstead
Buastadir before they
moved west.
Olafur was well known
and highly regarded, but
that could be said of all the
family. J. S. Anderson — his"
name really Sigurjon — died
on the West coast a good
many years ago, married to
a daughter of Runolfur
Jonsson from Snjoholt in
Eidapingha, who farmed at
Gilsarteigur. J. S. Anderson
had Cass Gilbert design his
house in Minneota — the
architect who designed the
State Capitol building in St.
Paul. It was the largest and
most elaborate house in
town. Matusalem became a
realtor in Minneapolis — E.
M. Anderson. One sister
married Sigfus Runolfsson
— Frank R. Johnson — and
they lived for many years in
Seattle; that Sigfus was a
brother of Jon Runolfsson
the poet. Another sister
married Jon Josepsson from
the same neighborhood in
northeastern Iceland
(parents of Staney
Josephson), and they lived in
Seattle for years.
Stefania Arngrims was
the only sister maintaining
her loyalty as to Minneota.
She died there a number of
years ago, as did her
husband, Bjarni Jones.
Bjarni was Jonsson Rafn-
ssonar from Krossavik in
Vopnafjordur; his parents
died when he was young and
he grew up under the
sheltering wing of the
church provost, Rev.
Halldor Jonsson, pastor at
Hof, going then with the big
group that came to Min-
neota in 1879. Bjarni worked
on the railroad first, as
many others did, and his
Jonsson name came out
“Jones” among the English-
speaking, so Bjarni let that
do and took Jones as his
family name.
Yes, with proper
patience, Sigfus Halldorsson
the composer, with his
mother, coming from
Vopnafjordur, coúld learn a
lot more about relatives
here in the western world,
just as his companions on
the big tour doubtless will as
they travel about, Steinunn,
Sigfus’ wife, and Gud-
mundur Gudjonsson and his
wife, Kristin, as well. So
long!
—VALDIMAR BJORNSON