Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.2003, Blaðsíða 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 5 Desember 2003 • page 5
FRETTIR • NEWS
Tammy Axelsson í góðum hópi verðlaunahafa
Tammy Axelsson in a Good Group of Award Winners
The first Western-Icelander that Toastmasters honours
Gimli is a lively town that
is built up of keen volun-
teers who do various jobs,”
said Tammy Axelsson,
Honorary Consul for Iceland
in Gimli, when she received
the yearly award from
Toastmasters International of
Manitoba and' Northwestern
Ontario, a short while ago.
Toastmasters International
(www.toastmasters.org), was
founded in California just over
seventy years ago and more
than thirty million people have
been involved in the organiza-
tion. The basic function of the
organization is for its mem-
bers to come together and
practice public speaking.
Today there are more than
8,800 divisions with over
175,000 members in over sev-
COURTESY OF MORGUNBLAÐIÐ/STEINÞOR GUÐBJARTSSON
Tammy Axelsson receiving the award from Lyie Appleyard,
the President of Toastmasters International in Manitoba and
Northwestern Ontario
enty countries all over the
world. The Gimli club was
being revived and the fall
council meeting for Manitoba
and Northwestern Ontario was
held there.
Tammy Axelsson, who is
the Executive Director of the
New Iceland Heritage
Museum, is the first Western-
Icelander living on the
Canadian prairie, which the
organization has honoured.
The award is given for volun-
tary work done for the organi-
zation. The first award was
given in 1939, and among
those who have received the
award in the Manitoba and
Northwestern Ontario region
are: Peter Liba, Lieutenant
Governor of Manitoba, Gary
Filmon and Edward Schreyer,
former Premiers of Manitoba.
Edward Schreyer also served
as the Governor General of
Canada.
Iceland and Icelandic mat-
ters have been at the forefront
in Gimli and Tammy has been
an avid participant in this
work in the past few years.
She has, among other things,
worked for the Icelandic
Festival Committee since
1995 and took over as
Honorary Consul of Iceland in
Gimli after Neil Bardal relin-
quished his post last June.
Lyle Appleyard, the
President of Toastmasters
International in Manitoba and
Northwestern Ontario, said
that the Icelandic community
in Gimli has been of interest to
the organization and that
Tammy is a worthy represen-
tative of it.
Information from Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
continued from page 4
A Philanthropist at Heart
He plans another trip there
next year with his children:
Virginia, thirty, who has a
swim suit collection she
designs and markets out of
Toronto; Carter, twenty-nine,
who is doing his Ph.D. at the
University of Maryland on full
scholarship, studying ethnic
conflict resolution; and
Jessica, twenty-seven, an artist
who studied at the Florence
Academy of Art for three
years, and who specializes in
doing portraits. His wife,
Anna McCowan-Johnson,
founder and Artistic Director
of the Interplay School of
Dance, is looking forward to
her first visit.
He is very interested in his
heritage, and supporting the
institutions that foster the con-
tinuance of the culture. At
Lundar High School he and
his siblings fund the Fjola
Johnson Memorial Scholar-
ship, named for his mother.
He recalls attending
Pauline Johnson’s lOOth birth-
day party, at which there were
several hundred guests. When
he reached her in the receiving
line, he said to her, “Miss
Johnson, you probably don’t
remember me. You taught me
grade one in 1941.” She retort-
ed, “I taught you grade one
and two in 1941 and 1942!”
Wondering what you
would give someone for their
lOOth birthday, he and his
family concluded that making
a donation to a library to be
named for her would be appro-
priate. They matched other
donations from the town’s
people, and Lundar’s main
street now has the Pauline
Johnson Library. At the open-
ing, Pauline Johnson cut the
ribbon.
Don concluded a long
time ago that it is important to
“do what you really love to do,
do what you are good at, and
do it with people you love to
be with.”
It would seem he has lived
that motto.
Ivbmh
Arnason Funeral Service Ltd.
Servíng the tnterlake Area
Chapels at Lundar and Ashern
First Avenue N. Ashern UB. 204.768.2072
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