Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.06.2004, Page 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 18. júní 2004 • 9
of Icelandic descent, and he
recalls that the Association
has had high and low points.
“There have been times when
it has almost gone away, but
then we have had times like
1938, when the Icelandic
monument in Spanish Fork
was dedicated. The celebra-
tion in 1955 lasted three days
and each family was assigned
a float. We got new blood with
the twins David and Daniel
Geslison after the mission
with their parents, Melva and
Byron T. Geslison, in Iceland,
1975 to 1978. In 1997 we got
a real boost with the visit of
president Olafur Ragnar
Grímsson. Ever since then the
Iceland Days has been a suc-
cess and so has the þorrablót.
We started celebrating the
annual feast about six years
ago.”
The southeast part of
Spanish Fork was called the
bench. That is were the Ice-
landic people lived and that is
were David grew up. “Many
of my friends were Icelandic
and I thought that was the way
all over the world,” recalls
David, who has been president
of the Icelandic Association
during two periods, 1994 to
1995 and 1999 to 2000.
“Although I never leamed
Icelandic, it was a big part of
Islands and put up the exhibit
in Hofsós. We raised about
$73,000 for these projects, but
in order to keep things going it
is important to build up things
that need to be celebrated. A
big celebration every 10 years
or so is important and you
need to have a special reason
to celebrate.”
The next celebration is
just around the corner, the
Sesquicentennial Celebration,
23 - 26 June 2005 — four days
of fun for the whole family.
“This will be the biggest cele-
bration yet, and we expect
many guests from Iceland, the
U.S. and Canada,” David says.
The biggest project con-
nected with the Sesquicenten-
nial Celebration will be the
outdoor Icelandic Museum at
the Icelandic Monument in
Spanish Fork. “We have to
raise about $80,000 and we
are working on it,” David says.
Bonnie and David Ashby
are retired people of action.
David has taken care of the
Association’s newsletter and
the website. They spend a lot
of time working for their
church and the Association
and yet they have enough time
to do other things.
“We like to fish and we
like to garden,” he says. “We
grow our garden.”
everyday life when I grew up,”
he says. “I did not think about
it then, but later the Icelandic
heritage became very impor-
tant to me. It is important to
niy family and I have rnade
sure that our children get the
message.”
Sesquicentennial
Celebration 23-26 June
2005
David and his wife Bonnie
have four children, Joe, Ger-
ald, Alan and Christina, and
three grandchildren. They
have been twice to Iceland, in
1996 and in 2000. “The Ice-
landic Association of Utah
chose to be part of the Millen-
nium celebration in Iceland,
and part of that was to bring
the monument to the Westman
David Ashby speaks at the dedication of the monument to Icelandic immigrants to Utah, at
the Westman Islands in 2000. Atop the monument stands Gary Price’s statue, The Messenger.
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