Lögberg-Heimskringla - 19.09.1974, Síða 2

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 19.09.1974, Síða 2
2 LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 19. SEPTEMBER 1974 llögberg-^emtéferingla (BfUb tt in EniUu.ii Exciting to be a Winnipegger When the City Wos Young Mrs. Ina Bjömson can think of nothing more excit- ing than growing up with a city just a few years your senior, few sounds more ex- hilerating than the symph- ony of hammer and saw at daybreak and nightfall, no fragrance more pleasing than the smell of new timb- er and no sight as promising as new houses sprouting out of vacant lots ovemight- She was bom in Winnipeg 92 years ago when the city was only eight years old, ac- cording to its charter. Little girls, including her and her sister, skipped on wooden sidewalks then, and there were puddles where there are now pavements. Their parents, Gísli and Sigríður Johnson,owned a house on Burnell Street, a way out on the open prairie and ran a dairy close too home. Two nice working dogs helped herd the cows and played with the little girls in their spare time. Mrs. Bjömson’s parents, Gísli Jónsson and Sigríður Pétursdóttir, came to Winni- peg with the large group of immigrants from Iceland in 1876. Sigríður was then a young widow, left with three children when her hus band died tragically, lost in a violent winter storm while joumeying to town for sup- plies. Tree intense searches were made for him and Gísli had been in all the search parties. This Sigríður leam- ed when the two met on their joint joumey to the new country Five years lat- er, they were married in Winnipeg and made their home on Fort Street, be- cause it was away from heav ey traffic and the noise of the city. Their two little girls Ina and Elín, grew up in the home on the comer of Bum- ell St. and Einarsson Ave. They attended old Mulvey Joy Antenbring in a Recital Joy Antenbring will be heard in a half-hour recital at Young United Church, Furby and Broadway, at 12,30 noon this Sunday, Sept ember 22. She will síng ari- as by Mozart, including his famous Exultate Jubilate- This is one of a series of aft- er church recitals inaugurat ed by Richard Grieg, organ- ist and choirmaster of the church. A collection will be taken for the organ fund. School, a two-room structure that bumed down The board then quickly rented a house on Young St., just north of Portage, painted blackboards on the walls, and school con- tinued with slight interrupt- ion- Indians tented in the west end of town then, and Mrs. Björnson remembers a vil- lage of 40 tents when she was a little girl. The stock- yards where located on the comer of Portage Ave. and Home St., and Arlington was mostly mud. Top-hatted gentlemen and ladies in sweeping gowns, carrying frilled parasols in gloved hands, rode in hand- some carriages drawn by spirited horses, and some wealthy parents equipped their youngsters with buggi- es and ponies, while a Mr. Austen operated a fleet of horse-drawn buses for less affluent citizens. Winnipeg grew by leaps and bounds, through wild booms and relaxing prosper- ity, followed by new booms. By the time young Ina John son reached her mid teens her city was in its mid twent ies. Nursing was her first choice as a lifetime professi- on, but too young to enter training, she hadn’t the pati ence to wait and found a job in a men’s tailoring establish ment instead. It was exact- ing work, requiring a good deal of fine han-stitching. But her mother, who was an excellent seamstress of the old school, had taught her well and soon the youngster was making too much money to give up the trade. Going home from work on Lombard St- one evening, she saw a great crowd of people near the Clarendon Hotel on the north side of Portage Ave. Such traffic- stopping crowds were un- usual, even at the end of a working day. Something must be going on. The first automobile had arrived in town. The old Hudson’s Bay store at Main St. and York Ave., she remembers as a bad place to work in one way only. New merchandise was unpacked right under her nose, an overpowering temptation for a young girl making good money and in- clined to dress in style. Girls wore white formals and opera cloaks to the the- atre in those days, when their escorts could afford choice seats, especially to the old Walker on Notre Dame. Gloves were a must on all occasions, millinery was elegant and expensive. There was lively interest in music and the theatre, with visiting stock compani- es and opera singers from large cities in Canada and the states, as well as local talent and vaudeville'. Young Ina Johnson took elocution lessons from Edna Suther- land, a well known Winni- peg elocutionist, and was in demand as a reader at con- certs in the tæo Icelandic church and elsewhere in the city. New hats and dresses were in order for the yearly celebration of “Islendinga- dagurinn,” always held on the 2nd of August in the early days, when many Winnipeg firms generosuly gave their Icelenders time off to absorb lengthy toasts and speeches, sing songs from the homeland and soci- This interesting interview was sent to Lögberg-Heims- kringla by a reader, Margar- et Benson Haukins. It appe- ared in the New York Sun- day News, May 12 this year, under the headíng “Collect- or’s Item.” It deals with the work of Margaret Johnson, daughter of the late Nels Johnson, former attomey- general of North Dakota and superior court justice- Miss Johnson is also a niece of Mrs .Lilja Eylands, wife of Rev- Dr. Valdimar Eylands. In a blurb above the feat- ure, the writer says of Miss Johnson: “Her balconied mid town duplex is a collector’s treasure trove.” * * * * “When I’ve come up with a successful series of designs I take cabs and buy moun- tain tops. When things slow down, I walk and spend more time at home.” Margot Johnson is the de- signer of hundreds of thous- and zodiac prints that hang on American walls today, and home for her is a duplex townhouse on a tree-ined street off Madison Ave. alize over substantial lunch- es brought from home. There was a good program of sport sand athletic con- tests, including the Icelendic glíma- All the early years of her married life, Mrs. Bjöm- son’s husband, Sigurður Björnson, was an acrtive org- anizer of the sports program. Sigurður has now passed on. He came to Winnipeg in infancy with his parents, and lived out his life in the city of their choice. Some of the couple‘s grandchildren attended public and high school inthe west- end south of Portage, not far from the site-of their grandmother’s first school. When a poll was taken there, it was found that Mrs. Bjömson’s grand- son was the only third-gen- eration Canadian in the school. Her yoimgest .dcs- cendants are bom fourth- generation Winnipeggers. Long on ambiance and filled with architectural nuance, the one-bedroom apartment has a 28-foot living room end ing in spectacular floor-to- ceiling leaded glass windows which overlook a garden. The windows and spotlights help keep the vast hanging plants healthy. “I love growing things.” Margot says. “I own an old stone house in Bucks Count- ry, Pennsylvania, and one of the reasons I actually bought it was the 40.000 daffodils that bloom each spring. I still go to the country to furnish my New York living room with plants.” Among the room’s high- lights are a carved oak fire- place and a balcony which circles the room. “I couldn’t quite imagine what I would do with the balcony, so I roped it off up- stairs from my bedroom,” she explains- ‘I thought I’d better keep people off as it’s not as secure as it was in 1919 when the house was built. It’s too bad, really be- cause it would be the per- Cont. on page 3 RAFMAGN OF DÝRT? Notið vindinn til að framleiða raf- magn fyrir býli, hús eða sumarbú- stað. Við seljum vind-knúnair raf- orkuvélar, 200—2000 watt. Sendið $2.00 fyrir bækling og upplýsingar. /^ENERGYALTERNATIVES, inc. ÚP.O. Box 233 Leverett. MA 01054 Thousands of Her Prints Hang on American Walls By NANCY SMITH BATE

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