Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Page 2

Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.09.1994, Page 2
2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 2. september 1994 By Stephania Morris The pioneers must have been great walkers because in those early years many had no other way to travel. There were horses, but it took money to buy them and if they had a team it was needed for thc farm work and trips to town. Mother said she walked wherever she needed to go both as a girl on the farm and later as the wife of a farmer. She remembered helping her step- father to drive cattle the seventy miles to Winnipeg where she had to walk behind the cattle or drive the poorly trained oxen. Mother’s older brother was working at digging sewers in Winnipeg to help the family with money when more of the relatives came from Iceland. He had no way of sending word to the family. He went on foot, mostly running and then rested in the wagon on the way back in order to keep his job in the sewers. Mother and some of the young peo- ple in the community walked seven- teen miles to the town to take in a dance, only to find a nearly empty hall. After mother was married and had us children she said she would Ioad us in. the carriage and walk the three and a half miles to visit family and then walk back home ready to put in another week of work. There is another story out of Manitoba, only this is from the south- ern part. The man, one of the very first settlers, walked many miles into the States to buy a stove and carried it home on his back. After he put it up, he lit a fíre; but he forgot he had purchased shells for his gun and put them in the oven. I guess he had to walk back for another stove, but that part of the story was not passed on. I met an older man who had pio- neered in the Peace River. It was their first year there and they had practical- ly nothing. He decided to walk to their nearest town, twenty miles away, and try to beg or borrow some- thing to make a Christmas for his family. When he arrived in town he went to the post offíce to see if there could be a letter and there was a par- cel from the relatives in Ontario. Inside the parcel there was a big ham and all kinds of goodies and gifts for the children. He fairly sang as he started for home. Then snow began to fall which soon became a blizzard as he tramped on and on. He tried only to think of the joy he was going to bring to the family. Then he realized that he was Iost. He kept going in the direc- tion he thought he should be going. He saw a light and headed for it and found that it was the home of a 1 Lögberg 1 1 1 K leimskringla á 1 i i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I L for the perfect investment in yotir Icelandic heritage Your Weekly lcelandic Newspaper □ Manitoba $39.90/year (inc. GST & PST) □ Elsewhere in Canada $37.45/year (íncludes GST) □ United States/lceland/Others $40./year □ Donatíon ín additíon to subscription (Charitabfe #: 0582 817-22-21) Name: Address: City/Town:. Prov./Country: Post/Zip Code: _Phone #:_ Mail with cheque or money order to: Lögberg-Heimskringla Inc. 699 CARTER AVE., WINNIPEG, MB, CANADA R3M 2C3 TEL.: (204) 284-5686 EVERY FRIOAY 8Y - HEIMSKR#C3LA incorporated rnrnimíámiL Luuocnu - ncnvuiMMivuLM i cw 699 Carter Avertue, Winnipeg, Man. R3M 2C3 president: Neil Bardal vice president: Don Bjornson treasurer: Gordon Thorvaldson secretary: Barbara Sigurdson editor-inchief: TomOleson editor: Laurie Oleson iceiandiceditor: Gunnur Isfeld advertising director: Ray Gislason recording secretary: Rosemarie Isford office manager: Laurie Oleson board members: Robert Oleson, Linda Collette, Sigurlin Roed, Brian Petursson, Kirsten Wolf, Bea Sharpe, S. Norma Godavari, Hal Bjornson, Connie Schminowski representative in iceland: Þjóðræknisfélag (slendinga Umboðsmaður blaðsins á (slandi Hafnarstræti 20 101 Reykjavík, Sími 621062 Telefax 626278 Graphíc Deslgn: Barbara Gislason • Typesetting: Keystone Graphics • Printing: Vopni Press Subscription - $39.90 per year (indudes GST & PST) in Manitoba, $37.45 per year findudes GST) in Canada, $40.00 in lceland, U.S. + Others - PAYABLE IN ADVANCE - neighbor several miles from home. The woman had lost her husband and she was in an even sadder state than his family. He cut her some of the ham and shared the gifts and goodies and then went home. He knew his way now. No Christmas ever brought him more joy then that one when the wonderful parcel made a festive and thankful Christmas for two homes. Walking also was a healing process. It released tension and emo- tion. We had a lady in our district with an emotional problem or depres- sion. She would go out and walk until she could cope with life again. One moming she came to the neigh- bors’ farm. She had walked all night but she was able to smile again as she sat down and had a bowl of porridge. Sometimes we wonder if we are descendants of those hardy pioneers. Would any of you walk seventeen miles to a dance? Obituary K. Aívin Melsted K. Alvin Melsted, 76 years old, of mral Edinburg, passed away on Sunday, June 19, at the Pembina County Memorial Hospital in Cavalier. Funeral services for Mr. Melsted were held on Thursday, June 23, at 10:30 a.m., from Pioneer Lutheran Church, Gardar, with Reverend Bradley Edin officiating. Burial was in Gardar Cemetery, Gardar. Serving as pallbearers were John Hill, Sigurd Isfeld, Percy Throndset, Howard Eirikson, John H. Johnson, Paul Sigurdson, Cecil Sigurdson, and J. Oliver Johnson. Honorary pallbearers were Joe Anderson, William Melsted, John Davidson, Joe Holm, Joe Kadlec, and Allen Lemd. K. 7\lvin Melsted was bom Dec. 6, 1917, in Gardar, the son of the late Benedict and Geirfridur (Freeman) Melsted; he received his education in Gardar schools, graduating from Gardar High School; he attended Mayville State University. He married Marcella Hanson on June 6, 1965, in Mayville; they lived and farmed in the Gardar area, retiring in 1989. He was a member of the Cenex Board of Directors of Edinburg for 47 years, retiring in 1992; served with the Edinburg Fire Department for many years, he was a recipient of an Honorary Fireman Award in 1980; served as Gardar Township Clerk for many years; he was on the Organizing Board of the Borg Pioneer Memorial Home in Mountain in 1948 and was the last surviving member of the Board; he served nine years as Director of the home; served for 25 years as 4-H leader; served for several years on the Quad County Com- munity Action Board at Grand Forks; member of the Pembina Hills Lutheran Church, Gardar; served as president of the Gardar District Church for many years. They celebrat- ed their 25th wedding anniversary in June of 1990. Mr. Melsted is survived by his wife Marcella of Edinburg; sister Ellene Goldsmith of Eugene, Oregon; brother Sigrud of Urbana, Illinois; a special nephew Robert and his wife Lea Goldsmith of Eugene, Oregon; a spe- cial godchild Janella Johnson of Fargo; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister: Sigrun Harding; two brothers Freeman and Bjom. The Tollefson Funeral Home of Edinburg was in charge of the arrange- ments. From Walsh County Press Letter to the Editor Why Goolies? Ihave been waiting patiently for someone more knowledgeable and better qualified to answer Freeman Skaptason’s question as to the derivation of the world “Gooly” as a nickname to describe lcelanders in Winnipeg (Lögberg-Heimskringla 13 May, p. 6). If this question has been answered in a subsequent issue, I must have missed reading it. But if not: My Mother, Dr. Sigridur Christian- son Houston, M.D. Manitoba 1925, had to put up with a lifetime of my father (fondly) calling her and her rel- atives “gooly” or “goolie.” Being half Scotch, I was a “half-gooly.” Occasionally I heard the name “goolie” used in Winnipeg, during my medical student days. Because, at Mrs. Jonas Thorvardson’s on 768 Victor Street (the same boarding house where Mother boarded as a medical student 26 years earlier), I was the only boarder to carry the dishes to the kitchen when the meal was finished, I was told by Mrs. Thorvardson that I wasn’t a bad guy for a half-Icelander. Without ques- tion, goolie was the nickname for Winnipeg Icelanders. I am almost certain the derivation of “gooly” has absolutely nothing to do with the Icelandic goalie of the Falcon hockey team, nor with the work of digging graves in cemeteries, ingenious explanations though they may be. Please inform Freeman Skaptason that I was told in my youth that the name “goolie” derived somehow from the Icelandic hall, named the Imperial Order of Good Templars hall. Was this temperance hall not in the middle of the Icelandic part of Winnipeg, on Sargent Avenue? Somehow “Good Templars” became “gooly.” Perhaps the intermediary step was that the hall name was shortened to “Goolars hall” or some- thing like it. Then the people nearby were “goolies.” Or so I was told, as gospel truth. Yours sincerely, C. Stuart Houston Saskatoon

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