Lögberg-Heimskringla - 16.07.1993, Blaðsíða 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 16. júlí 1993 • 5
Vigdís Einarson -
by Vlctor Einarson
Mom’s Dad, Stefan
Sigurdsson moved
from Iceland to Ames,
MB. in 1876. His first wife died
in June 1890 and he married
Gudrun Magnusdóttir in Dec.
1890 and Mom was one of 8
children of this marriage and
she had 6 step brothers and
sisters. Mom’s Mother died in
1936 at the age of 73 and her
Dad died in 1941 at the age of
98. Mom is the only surviving
sibling.
Mom grew up in the Ames
area, moving to the Winnipeg-
osis area early in her life,
spending many years on a
ranch at Kettle Bay in Red
Deer Point, later moving to the
Town of Winnipegosis and
subsequently to Brandon in
1968.
Pretty well on her own she
raised 6 children. Her oldest
child, Sigurjon, was killed in
action overseas in 1944; her
remaining children, Mindy,
Leo, Helen, Connic and me are
all here today. Mom has 9 liv-
ing grandchildren, 16 living
great-grandchildren and to this
list you can add step-grandchil-
dren and step-great-grandchil-
dren through Leo, Siggi and
me.
In celebrating her lOOth
birthday this year, Mom has
competition as Peter Rabbit is
also celebrating his lOOth birth-
day this year.
It’s hard to put into perspec-
tive the substantial changes
that Mom has faced in her 100
years but the following facts
give some idea of her changing
world.
- When Mom was born Sir
John Sparrow Thompson was
Canada’s Prime Minister and
there have been 15 Prime
Ministers since then.
- Mom was 4 when aspirin
was introduced.
- The golf ball and the tape
recorder were invented when
Mom was 5.
- Motion pictures were intro-
duced when Mom was 2 and
sound was added when she
was 7, but movies didn’t
become commercially viable
until Mom was 34.
- When Mom was 8 years old
the population of Winnipeg
was 42,340. That same year the
vacuum cleaner was invented.
- Mom was 10 when the first
sleeping pill was introduced.
- When Mom was 13,
Kellogg’s Com Flakes came on
the market, the first public
Radio Broadcast was made and
the electric washing machine
was introduccd.
Mass production of thc
motor car was started when
Mom was 15.
' Mom was 16 when the elec-
What a milestone!
tric toaster was invented.
- Mom was 18 when the
white centre line on roads was
introduced. While Manitoba
was the 5th Province of
Canada in 1870, originally it
consisted of a small area
known as The Red River Valley
and its present borders were
not established until Mom was
19 years old.
- Mom was 20 when the zip-
per was introduced commer-
cially.
- Mom was 21 when the first
traffic lights were used.
- Mom was 31 when Kleenex
was introduced.
- Mom was 33 when anti-
freeze for cars was first used.
- Mom was 36 when pre-pre-
pared baby food appeared on
the market.
- Mom was 37 when sliced
bread was introduced.
- Mom was 46 when cooked
frozen foods hit the market.
When Mom was born
Queen Victoria was on the
throne. Mom has lived through
two world wars, the depres-
sion, witnessed space travel,
introduction of television, com-
puters, microwave ovens, and
jet travel. And so the list can go
on and on.
One must remember all the
Vigdis Einarson and herchildren. Seated: Mindy ofCreighton, Sask.,
Vigdis of Brandon. Standing: (L-R) Leo of Parksville, B.C., Connie Hagen
of Red Deer, Alta., Helen Eiriksson of Brandon, Man.,
Victor of Richmond, B.C.
changes in the last 100 years
did not come to Winnipegosis
the day they were invented.
Even I rcmcmber when we first
got electricity into our home,
when we got our first tele-
phone, when we got a gas pow-
ered washing machine which
was later changed to electric,
when we advanced from a
wood buming fumace to an oil
space heater then to oil forced
air heating. Just imagine what
my brothers and sisters can
rcmcmber as they are so much
older than me!
Today Mom’s home is heat-
ed by natural gas and electricity
and is air conditioned and has
many of the marvels of modem
technology which we are
inclined to take for granted.
Mom used to travel to town,
Winnipegosis, from Red Deer
Point by horse drawn wagon
over muddy roads with the
wagon oftcn in pot holes so
deep the mud would creep into
thc wagon box, travelling the
same road in the winter time in
a caboose, heated by a tin
heater. Such trips would take
the better part of a day. Now a
trip to town from Red Deer
Point takes a matter of minutes.
Through all these changes
Mom made the necessary
adjustments in her life. It’s a
long way from the ranch at Red
Deer Point and horse and
buggy travelling to jetting to the
Bahamas, enjoying visits to
casinos, attending cocktail par-
ties and dining with some of
the world’s wealthiest citizens
in Lyford Cay. All this she took
in her stride.
Mom is proud of her
Icelandic Heritage, she reads,
writes and speaks Icelandic.
When in the Bahamas I had
the Icelandic Ambassador to
the United States, with his wife
and daughter, home to dinner
one night and the ambassador
was surprised Mom spoke
Icelandic so well and com-
mented on the correctness of
her grammar.
Messages of congratulations
ön Mom’s lOOth birthday have
come from the Queen and
many political leaders includ-
ingthe President of Iceland.
Mom still lives alone in hcr
home and this would not be
possible if it wercn’t for the
attention and support of Helen,
Kris and Lloyd and this trio
deserve special mention and
thanks.
Thank-you for helping us to
honour Mom on this very spe-
cial occasion.
Pioneer Doctor, Cont'd.
absence would test the per-
sistence of her suitor,
Clarence J. Houston. He was
a gangly red-haired farm boy
who was her junior by seven
years, and in the medical class
behind her. After more than
a year’s absence, which
included a persistent daily
letter-writing campaign, the
two met in Grand Forks in
December 1926. Sigga felt
that CJ, who had a draining
submandibular abscess, a
complication of chronic
Ludwig’s angina, needed her
and agreed to marriage. But
they couldn’t get a marriage
license without a period of
waiting. They went across the
Aver to Crookston, Minn-
esota, hoping the laws would
be more lenient there. No
luck. Then CJ had the happy
inspiration to ask the court
house clerk whether the fact
that both were Canadian citi-
zens made any difference. It
did, for the Americans saw no
need to protect a couple from
another country from rash
and impetuous folly. They
were married that afternoon,
3 December 1926, in the min-
ister’s home, and the next
week she joined CJ in his
practice in Watford City,
North Dakota. They lived
there for 13 months, during
which their only child was
born in Williston (on 26
September 1927). They then
moved to Yorkton, Sask-
atchewan, two years in
advance of the drought and
depression that was so much
worse in the badlands of
North Dakota than in the
mixed farming area around
Yorkton, which never ex-
perienced complete crop fail-
ure.
Sigga had made arduous
country calls in Watford City,
but in Yorkton she had only
an office practice, restricted
largely to paediatrics and
gynaecology. Her husband
did the surgery and made hos-
pital visits.
In Yorkton, she drew
patients regularly from places
a hundred miles distant,
including Hudson Bay and
Kelvington, Saskatchewan,
and Binscarth, Manitoba.
They came from greater
distances than for any other
Yorkton doctor. For example,
Dr Sid Israels (MD Manitoba
1938, brother of Dr Max
Israels, MD, Manitoba 1928
and Dr Lionel Israels, MD,
Manitoba 1948) told of
Sigga’s fame when he intro-
duced Sigga’s son as guest
spcaker at paediatric grand
rounds at Vancouver General
Hospital in 1977. All three
Israels boys had been raised
at the little village of Nut
Mountain where their
father had a general
store. Six miles away in
Kelvington lived the leg-
endary Dr PLH Warren,
who could diagnose and
treat virtually anything,
with a single exception:
an infant who was fail-
ing to thrive. Sid told the
assembled pediatricians
that when he was a
youngster, “outside med-
icine” consisted of one
doctor, Sigga Houston,
in faraway Yorkton.
Infants sent to her were
put on a formula that includ-
ed gruel made from
Robinson’s Groats, and all
soon thrived.
In the Yorkton office, man-
aged by Sigga, accounts were
sent out only once a year,
after harvest. The office was
only two blocks from her
home on 82 Fourth Avenue.
Sigga walked home each day
just before 4 pm to give hcr
son an apple when he came
home from school and was
sent back out to play. Shc
then returned for another two
hours at the office. Whcn
more doctors came to York-
ton after thc Second World
War, she reduced her office
hours to 9 am to 1 pm. She
continued to handlc all thc
Dr. Sigga Houston, 1987
monetary affairs of the three-
doctor firm until she retired at
age 82, after 50 years in prac-
tice. However, everyone
believed she was only 75, the
age she gave on all official
documents, including her
hospital card. In 1926, it had
been unacceptable for a
woman to marry a man seven
years her junior. She took her
pension payments seven years
late, pride coming beforc
money. Only when she turncd
90 in 1983 did she admit her
true age for the first time.
Dr. Sigga Houston was
100 on 28 June 1993.
She graduated from
the University of Manitoba
Medical College in 1925.