Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.01.1978, Síða 8

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ICELANDIC WEEKLY
138S
27. JANUAR 1978
A UNIQUE PAPER FOR MORE THAN 90 YEARS
67 ST. ANNE'S ROAD
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
R2M 2Y4 CANADA
Telephone (204) 247-7798
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THE CLUBS
HOUSE OF ICELAND
“We had decided that we needed at least 25 people to
come to the meeting, otherwise it was no use founding
a club, 26 attended.”
This is John Long, who tells this. He is the father
of House of Iceland, in San Diego and the first presi-
dent of the club, which was founded in January 1977.
One year is not a very long time in the history of
a club like this, but we thought it could be of some
interest to know more about it.
One of the news-items on L-H’s front page, March
24th 1977, was about this club, and its foundation. Now
the club has more than 70 members, and .Mr. Long
said in an interview with one of the newspapers of
Iceland, recently after his visit to Iceland last summer,
that the members seemed to be enjoyíng the gatherings
arranged by the Club. He mentioned one example. A
married couple from Iceland lived some 80 miles out-
side of San Diego had read about it in the Lögberg-
Heimskringla, and they drove all the way to a meeting
one day, and the woman almost cried when she met
the other Icelanders. She had not seen anybody from
Iceland for decades.
Here is the letter we recently recieved from Mr
John Long, — thank you. já
San Diego
“I am in receipt of your letter of December 29, 1977,
which certainly took long enough to arrive.
As of this writing I am no longer the President of
the House of Iceland as I did not wish to run for re-
election. I was hoping an Icelander or person of Ice-
landic descent would be voted in and I am happy that
this did happen. The new president for 1978 is Paul
Asgeirsson, a fifth generation Icelander who can trace
his ancestry back to the days of Ingólfur Arnarson in
830 AD! He has never even been to Iceland but is quite
knowledgable about it and is very enthusiastic about
our club. The new vicepresident is Ed Rogers, husband
of Bára Rogers who was born in Iceland. The Secretary
was reelected and her name is Lisali Weatherson, who,
along with her sister, Brynhildur, was born in Canada
of an Icelandic painter who has now been immorataliz-
ed in a recent book called “Ásta Málari” published in
Iceland. Lisali and her family also lived several years
in Point Roberts, Washington, U.S.A. where they were
visited at once time in their childhood by the Nobel
Prize winner in Literature, Halldór Laxness, also born
in Iceland. The prize was given in 1955. The Treasurer
has also been reelected. His name is Ray Gillespie who
served several years after the war as a Marine in Ice-
land. Here he met his Icelendic wife Seselia, who was
born in Olafsjörður. If you wish to contact me further
in the future, you have in me one of the best “experts”
in America on Iceland, particularly about the years
1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944. There is very little that I
have not learned about the climate, the land and the
people who I hold in highest regard and love. If you
wish to contact the new President, his address is 7533
Jennite Drive, San Diego, Cal. U.S.A. 92119.
I spent nearly two months in Iceland during the
summer of 1976 staying with personal friends, Sverrir
Olafsson and Hrönn Albertsdóttir, in Reykjavík. We
traveled all over Iceland on trips. He works for Sjón-
varp (Icelandic State Television) and she works for
Menntaskólinn Skeiðarvog (a local school near their
home). While there, I was given the VIP treatment
with a party at the US Embassy and a tour of the
Keflavík NATO base by the NATO commander, Admir
al Rich. He has since been replaced by a new com-
mander.
In 1977, I spent almost another two months in July
and August in Iceland. This time I made much use
of Flugfelag Islands with trips to Akureyri, Egilsstaðir,
Seyðisfjörður and Vestmannaeyjar. I made two trips to
Vestmannaeyjar and stayed both times with the city’s
leading fisherman, Ragnar Johannesson. I walked the
length and breath of Heimey including climbing into
the new crater, Eldfell, and bringing out a red-hot
souvenir. The heat from the eruption is now being us-
ed to supply geothermal heat to almost half of the city
and the hospital. It is estimated that this heat will
adequately supply the city’s needs for 30 or more
years! I went back the second time to be a guest of
Ragnar again and enjoy the famous three-day celebrat-
ion of Thjóðhátið í Eyjum sponsored by Tyr. Vest-
mannaeyjar had the clearest, sunniest, and best weath-
er in the history of the famous celebration. Of course,
my friends told me I had brought the sunshine from
California. Who knows? The temperature was in the
seventies most of the time! While staying in Reykja-
vik during this last trip, I was the house guest of
Sævar Jóhannesson, who is a brother of Ragnar and
also of Grettir, a potato farmer from Thykkvibær.
He also has a syster, Elinborg, who lives here in Bar-
stow, Cal. and has been a member of our club. Sævar
is a member of the newly formed Rannsóknarlögregl
Islends (The State Police of Iceland).
Well so much for now, write again if you wish and
I will try to answer any questions you may have. —
Meantime, feel free to write our new President, Paul
Asgeirsson, Who knows, he may may be related to
you!
John A. Long, Past President.
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ÞJÓÐRÆKNIS-
ÞINGIÐ
Eins og frá hefur verið
skýrt í blaðinu verður
Þjóðræknisþingið haldið
dagana 31. mars og 1.
aprfl í Winnipeg. Það er
nokkru seinna á árinu, en
venja hefur verið. Þing-
haldið verður í Fyrstu
Lútersku kirk.junni, Vict-
or Street.

J

The president of the Gimli Chapter of the Icelandic Nalional
league, Mrs. Lara Tergesen conducled the meeting. Here she
is introducing two of the Canadian students tho went to Ice-
land last summer, sponsored by the Icelandic National League,
and Þjóðraeknisfelagið in Reykjavik and in Akureyri.
This pictures shows residents of
Betel Gimli watching the film
Almost 450 people of all ages saw the film — “They
shouldn’t call Iceland Iceland” — last week. It was
shown in schools in Gimli, Arborg and Riverton, at a
Rotary meeting and at the Betel Homes in Gimli and
Selkirk. The first show of this year was in Bismarck,
North Dakota, where about 60 people came to a me-
eting arranged by Mr. Leonard Dalsted. About 1200
people have now seen the film in Canada. já