Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.05.2003, Blaðsíða 2

page 2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday, 9 May 2003
Editorial • Ritstjórnargrein
Lillian Vilborg
0 Managing Editor
| WlNNIPEG, MB
In those days, the westbound
train stopped in Regina in
the middle of the night. My
parents stood silently in their
night clothes at the front door
of the house at 2119 Grant
Road watching as Lorne and I
and our two-year-old son
walked out, our eyes fixed on
our future in another place.
I don’t remember any-
thing about the trip from
Regina to Vancouver, wrapped
as I was in my parents’ silent
sorrow. The enormity of our
decision began to sweep over
me as we clacked along the
sea from Vancouver to Seattle.
My most vivid memory of that
portion of the trip was a young
woman from Australia raptur-
ous at seeing the Mighty
Pacific once again. No other
sea was like it, she said. She’d
been on the road for a year and
was on her way home.
Dear Editor,
Lillian mentioned the con-
tribution of aboriginal people
to the survival the early set-
tlers of New Iceland.
Has the íslendinga-
dagurinn Festival Commitee
ever formally acknowledged
the kindness accorded our peo-
ple and the importance our
First Nations’ neighbours have
in our history?
If not, it may be worth
considering.
First Lutheran Church
Celebrating 125 years
(1878-2003)
580 Victor Street Winnipeg R3G 1R2
204-772-7444
www.mts.net/~flcwin
Worship with us Sundays 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Michacl Kurt/.
Come Home!
Anniversary Weekend
October 17-19, 2003
We had been living with
my parents and my brother for
just over two years. My moth-
er had minded Arne while I
worked and Lorne finished his
university studies.
Although I was gainfully
employed, women earned half
what men earned in those
good old days. Literally.
What I earned following my
graduation from the
University of Saskatchewan
with a B.A. barely paid our
rent and food, let alone a
babysitter. With a student hus-
band, we had to find a solu-
tion. We struck a deal with
Mom and Dad.
There was no such thing
as maternity leave then. Nor
was there job security follow-
ing pregnancy. I had to pick a
date on which to resign. I
picked my due date. I was
lucky that Miss Henderson,
Betty as I was to call her later,
my boss, empathized with my
situation. She offered to hold
my job for me and encouraged
me to take whatever time I
needed after the birth. I went
back to work when Arne was
three weeks old.
Our two years with my
Please let me know.
Ken Davidson
Vancouver, BC
Dear Editor,
I received a letter from
Séra Ágúst Sigurðsson, recent-
ly retired from his ministry,
requesting information for
articles he is doing about two
noted Icelandic women, Ólöf
Sölvadóttir and Steinunn
Jóhannesdóttir. Perhaps some
of your readers may be able to
supplement the information he
has already gathered. I would
be pleased to hear from any-
one who could provide nie
with further details that I
would send to him in Iceland.
Responses should be directed
to:
Johanna Wilson
802 - 188 Roslyn Road
Winnipeg, MB R3L 0G8
Phone 1-204-453-2538
Or:
Séra Ágúst Sigurðsson
Hagamelur 14
107 Reykjavík
Iceland
parents were very happy for
all of us. Lome graduated and
got an interesting job - that
paid twice what mine did!
While there we lived in an
1100 square foot bungalow
with three bedrooms and one
bathroom - five adults and a
baby. It never seemed crowd-
ed or inconvenient.
My mother could well
have been Arne’s mother, she
herself was so young. Each
day as I left for work, he was
snuggled up to her on the
couch listening to a story she
was reading to him.
Years later, many years
later, my mother told us that
our taking Arne away to
Seattle was the worst thing
that happened to her in her
life.
I was dumbstruck. And felt
a wave of remorse, wondered
how I could have been so cal-
lous, so thoughtless. I should
have known. But I didn’t.
I was focused on my
financial realities. I wanted to
be able to earn enough money
to live on, in the event I might
have to support the family
again. It was clear to me that
without some kind of profes-
“...Now I use the time to
read and write, for example,
about 2 Icelandic women who
emigrated to Canada 1876 and
1888, both 18 years old.
...‘Ólöf Sölvadóttir’ ... was a
dwarf, but very famous as a
reader in U.S.A. in the part of
an Eskimo lady...The other
woman was Steinunn
Jóhannesdóttir, a relative of
my father... born 1870. She
died in California in 1960. She
was the first Icelandic woman
who studied theology to the
end in Chicago and gained the
goal of Candidatus
Theological, 1895.
... S t e i n u n n
Jóhannesdóttir was a chaplain
for some years until she stud-
ied medicine to a very high
examination 1902, married
Arthur Hayes, her fellow stu-
dent in medical studies, and
they went to China as a mis-
sionary doctor and minister.
They preached the gospel,
cured and healed people, the
poor and numerous others, for
40 years. They did come to
Iceland for two weeks in 1909
sional degree I would never be
able to do it. So our excursion
to Seattle was for me to get a
graduate degree.
All these memories of my
parents and living with them
and leaving them came back
to me this Easter weekend.
Then we had a re-enactment
of the baby leaving her grand-
parents scene. Only it was our
granddaughter Eva with her
parents Jacki and Erika walk-
ing out the front door with
their eyes fixed on their future
in a different place.
I wasn’t as stoic as my
mother was. I cried. All
weekend.
At our home in Winnipeg,
we have had separate quarters.
We haven’t taken our meals
together, nor have we used the
same bathroom. We didn’t
share a telephone line.
Nonetheless, we saw Eva
every day. We heard her
laughing and talking while she
played, saw her take her first
step. And now she’s gone.
Just for a year they say. I
do hope so.
on their way to America
where they had a year ofi'.
Their only child, Arthur
Hayes, born in China 1905,
was a chemical professor in
California, married but with-
out children. Therefore
Steinunn had no descendents.
Holmfridur Danielson wrote
about her in Lögberg-
Heimskringla, February 11,
1960. Not long after Steinunn
died at the age of ninety. If
you could tell me something
about these 2 Icelandic
women in the Western world,
1 would be very thankful, for
example if Steinunn was
ordained as a reverend or
chaplain...”
I will appreciate having
this “Request for Information”
published in the Lögberg-
Heimskringla in whatever
format you feel is suitable.
Thanks for your attention.
Sincerely,
Johanna Wilson
WlNNIPEG, MB
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Letters to the Editor • Bréf til ritstjóra
Parts of his letter follow:
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