Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.08.2004, Blaðsíða 10

10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 27 August 2004
Lou Howard, the Vice-President of the Friends
of lceland in Ottawa, seems to be in his prime.
He has so much drive and certainly the right
spirit. Recently Steinþór Guðbjartsson spent
some time with him in Ottawa.
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Lou Howard in his “Icelandic” office at home in Ottawa.
When you meet some-
body who is 80 you
normally don’t
expect him to be speeding
down the streets in a 1963
Chevy Impala. But when you
meet Lou Howard you wonder
why some people are always
young, physically and spiritu-
ally.
“Come on, put your seat
belt on,” is his favourite line
when somebody gets into his
brown, more-than-40-year-old
car for the first time. When it
was made, seatbelts were
unheard of, and of course there
are no seatbelts in the car.
“This is a classic car and you
are allowed to drive it as it
came equipped. They don’t
care to stop me but if they do
they only want to sit in the car,
look at the 283 motor, and even
test it. They never mention the
missing seatbelts,” he says
about the police, as he steps on
the gas and breaks Ottawa’s
downtown speed limit within
seconds.
Lou is the son of Elínborg
Guðmundsdóttir Ásmundson
from Borgarfjörður eystri in
Iceland, who was bom in 1897
and died in 1999, and Louis
George from England. His wife
Marjorie has her roots in
Vopnafjörður, Iceland. He is a
war veteran and a retired engi-
neer, has published a book,
Real Estate Appraising in
Canada, and a personal book-
let, What Did You Do in the
War, Grandpa. “Now I am in
charge of ice, they tell me,” he
says referring to his vice-preci-
dency of the Friends of Iceland
(FOI) club.
Elínborg and Louis lived in
Selkirk, Manitoba, and that is
were Lou was bom. He entered
the University of Manitoba but
the Second World War halted
his education for a while. “I
was in the second year at the
University when I entered the
navy in 1942,” he says, and
adds that he graduated in 1948.
“We told the Dean of Engineer-
ing that the Class of ‘48 was
the best engineering class that
ever graduated from the Uni-
versity of Manitoba. She did
not deny it, she just smiled, so
we assume that that is trae.”
Among the students in that
class were Kris Anderson, now
living in Ottawa and a member
of the board of the FOI, and
Johnny Arnason from Gimli,
who later became the President
of Manitoba Hydro.
Since 1970 Marjorie and
Lou have lived in Ottawa. They
were members of the Icelandic
club in Toronto until the club in
Ottawa was established. “Many
years ago my brother Ken gave
me a subscription to Lögberg-
Heimskringla as a birthday
present. The paper was my
only connection to the Ice-
landic community until the
club was formed in Ottawa
because I was not involved in
the activities in Toronto, just a
supporter.”
The Ottawa club has been
very active and Lou says that it
has enriched his life a lot.
“Being involved in the club and
working for it has given me a
whole new group of friends
and a relationship with my
past. I’m at an age where many
of my long-term friends have
died and I need people in my
life. Friends of Iceland has pro-
vided that need for me.”
In 1994 Marjorie and Lou
went to Iceland for their first
and only visit. “I had always
wanted to go to Iceland,” Lou
says. “After I had hired Nelson
Gerrard to help me [with]
researching my roots I was
ready to go and stand on the
land where my afi came from.
“Among other places, we
went to the church of Hof,
were Marjorie’s father Guð-
mundur Ásmundsson was
christened when he was two
years old. We went there on
June 17 and there was an Ice-
landic service and a christening
going on. When we went to
Þingvellir I realized what a
wonderful background all this
Icelandic culture was and since
then I have bought the sagas
and read a lot of Icelandic liter-
ature. The visit to Iceland and
the involvement in the club in
Ottawa have reinforced my
desire to bring out the Icelandic
in our family because we are
proud of it. I think all Ice-
landers are proud of their her-
itage and I’m trying to instill it
in my children and grandchil-
dren.”
Lou Howard is as fit as a
teenager. He swims in his own
pool every aftemoon, goes to
the gym three mornings a
week, skis in the wintertime
and takes care of his yard in
the summer. “I’m an old fart,”
he says. “Recently Jamie, one
of our five grandchildren,
came to visit. I was up on the
roof fixing the skylight and
had kept the door open. She
came into the house and called
‘Grandpa, Grandpa, where are
you?’ Finally she looked up to
the skylight and saw me.
‘What in hell are you doing
there?’ she shouted, and obvi-
ously did not like seeing me on
the roof.”
Icelandic was spoken at
Lou’s home in Selkirk but he
never learnt the language. “My
family was very poor and in
my parents’ and grandparents’
mind poverty and the Icelandic
language were associated. My
afi died at the age of 42 and
amma was left with four chil-
dren. She cleaned other peo-
ple’s houses and my mother
delivered milk. We had cows in
the backyard and my mother
spoke no English until she was
eight years old. They were at
the bottom of the heap, at the
lowest level, but fortunately the
Icelandic people managed to
step up the social ladder. I went
to Icelandic classes in the
Lutheran church but it did not
catch me.”
He looks at himself as an
Icelander and likes to have a
“good Icelandic time” as he
says. “Every Christmas I get
Icelandic food from Arnason’s
in Tip Top in Gimli who are my
relatives. I get a load of
hangikjöt, rúllupylsa, and
harðfiskur, I make my own
brown bread and make sure
that I have Icelandic brennivín,
and butter with the harðfiskur.
Then our Icelandic friends
come over and we have fun.
It’s good stuff.”
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