Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.12.2003, Qupperneq 14

page 14 » Lögberg-Heimskringla « 5 December 2003
“Any man’s death diminishes me,for 1 am involved in mankind ... No man is an island, entire of himself. ”—John Donne • “Maður er manns gaman.”—Hávamál
Spotlighting lives lived and milestones in the lives of Icelandic North Americans.
Jóna Is Meeting Her People
“ T t was strange for me to come
J-to Willow Point after reading
about this treacherous trip,”
Jóna Valgerður Höskuldsdóttir
said as we sat in the sunroom at
Frank and Helle Wilson’s home
in Charleswood overlooking a
great expanse of lawn. “I can
never understand how anyone
came out alive from these horri-
ble circumstances.”
Jóna’s fírst trip to Canada
was with Jónas Þór’s first group
that went from Wisconsin to
Hecla Island and many places
in between. Then she did not
know her Canadian cousins.
“Helle and I were digging a
new bed in the garden here,”
she said, pointing to a
flowerbed beside the garage,
“and I felt I had a small touch of
what those early pioneers had to
do.”
Símon Símonarson was her
great grandfather’s brother.
“The fírst house that Símon
built was two fífths the size of
this room,” she said indicating
the size with her arm, “and in it
lived six people, two couples
and two children. And Símon
said it was a palace compared to
the tent they had been living
in.”
Jóna was bom in Isafjörður,
but her family comes from all
across the north of Iceland. She
studied nursing, and worked as
a nurse until 1996. She and her
late husband Gísli Hildibrandur
Guðlaugs-son had fíve children,
four girls and one boy. They
lived for some years in
Denmark in Oðinsvé, where
Gísli studied engineering. The
last forty years she has lived in
Garðabær.
In her retirement, her pas-
sions are quilt making, garden-
ing, tree planting, carving and
minding her grandchildren.
She and her siblings enjoy frí-
tíma vitma (vacation time work)
planting all kinds of trees at
Amardalur, an abandoned farm
in Skutulsfjörður in the West
Fjords. There the weather is
hard and the soil not very good
“But perhaps one day there will
be a forest there,” she says
hopefully.
Jóna began to meet her
Canadian cousins in rather an
odd fashion. Johanna Wilson
was in Iceland, to visit a mutual
relative, with whom she had
corresponded for years. The
deceased woman’s daughter
called Jóna to fínd out how she
could reach Johanna, as her
mother just passed away, and
insisted she must meet Johanna.
But Jóna was leaving on her trip
to Canada. Fortunately, they
managed to meet briefly. And
Johanna arranged for her son
Frank to meet Jóna while she
was in Winnipeg, and so has
begun a friendship.
On the first trip to Canada,
she saw much landscape and
whetted her appetite for more.
On this trip she is meeting her
people. She is finding them on
every side of her family. In
Winnipeg she met Shirley
Wright, sister to Barbara
(Johannesson) Hoffman of
Edmonton, whose sons took her
to Iceland for her seventieth
birthday. They are related
through Asmundur and
Jónasína. She has stayed with
Einar and Rosalind Vigfusson
at Arborg, Johanna and Frank
and Helle. There are so many
more, spread all over Canada.
She is already dreaming
about her next trip when she
wants to go to Saskatchewan
and Alberta as well. Þorlákur
Arnason, brother to her grand-
father, settled in Tantallon, SK.
She met Luella Hamel, grand-
daughter of Þorlákur and
Steinunn and her daughter Gail
Kennedy at Frank’s house.
When asked what she
found interesting about the
Canada she has seen and met,
she said sterkt “íslenskt sam-
félag.” - the strong Icelandic
connection, and the absolutely
“hrein íslenska” - pure
Icelandic - that the Canadians
speak. “Eldra fólk og margir
miðaldra líka tala bara lítalaust
mál,” she said.
She thinks it’s great that so
many are studying the lan-
guage. And thought the per-
formance of the Iceland Youth
Choir she attended in Iceland
remarkable. She said their
‘framburður ” (pronunciation)
was excellent.
Jóna is one of those
Icelanders who are “creating
community” as between Iceland
and Canada. She is reading
about the trials and tribulations
of those who left, she is meeting
their descendants, she is leam-
ing to know us in the new coun-
try, then and now.
It is an exciting project, and
exciting to see the circle widen
and widen. -
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Iceland
She stands there all alone
In the North Adantic sea.
Her name is Maid of Mountains;
Was born a queen to be.
The polar breezes fan her,
The breakers lave her feet.
Aurora Borealis
Enwrap her in their sheet.
Her royal diadem, wrought
From dew out of the sky,
With queenly grace she carries
And queenly dignity.
If she looks cold and haughty
Her heart is large and warm.
Apd when in burning passion
Her children feel alarm.
his poem is from the
poet’s collection Kvœði,
published in Winnipeg in 1948
by his children.
Bjami wrote this poem for
his grandson John B.
Thorsteinsson, an electrical
engineer who was at one time
the vice president of the electri-
cal manufacturing firm FPE
Pioneer Ltd., and chief of the
Province of Manitoba’s Energy
Conservation section. In that
capacity he was responsible for
the development and direction
of energy conservation pro-
grams in Manitoba, as well as
for conservation programs
under the Canada-Manitoba
energy agreement. John gradu-
ated in 1953 from the
University of Manitoba. He
joined Pioneer Electric in 1954,
and remained with them until
1975.
John is the son of Bjami’s
eldest son Jón, who was also an
electrical engineer. He worked
as the relay engineer for the
Winnipeg Electric Co.
John’s grandfather Bjarni
was bom at Höfn í Borgarfirði
She strongly warns her children
From sloth and idleness;
And teaches them the struggle
Is a means to happiness.
She lets her Saga tell them
Of many a hero son,
Who fought on valiandy
Till victory was won.
Industrious and progressive;
At peace with every one,
She keeps content and happy
Though gold mine she has none.
Her treasure is her Sagas
And Edda’s ancient lore;
In world-wide fame enwrapped
Today and evermore.
Eftir Bjarna Þorsteinsson frá Höfn
eystra in 1868. He married
Björg Jónsdóttir in 1898. They
emigrated to Canada in 1903.
They lived first in Winnipeg
where at first Bjami worked
with Canada Immigration as a
translator - he spoke the
Scandinavian languages and
German in addition to
Icelandic. After a few years the
family moved to Selkirk. They
had five children, Jón, Anna,
Þorsteinn, Jóhann and Helga.
Bjarni worked as a profes-
sional photographer. He had
trained in Copenhagen before
coming to Canada. He took
thousands of photographs and
published several books.
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