Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.11.2004, Page 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 5. nóvember 2004 • 3
Snapshots from
Borgarfjörður
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Gimli, MB
Recently Bjarni Guð-
ráðsson, a farmer from
Reykholt, Iceland, gave a talk
in Gimli on how people lived
and farmed in his area in the
second part of the 19th centu-
ry. He also spoke on the emi-
gration from Reykholt’s valley
to North America, and the
writer Kristleifur Þorsteins-
son.
Bjarni has been a farmer
in Nes in the Reykholt’s valley
for decades. He has worked at
Snorrastofa in Reykholt since
2001 and is the editor of the
book on Borgarfjörður’s
inhabited area. “I am a farmer
and for everything I am
dependent on the sun and the
rain,” he said in his approxi-
mately two-hour-long talk.
Bjarni Guðráðsson gave
his talk in the Lady of the
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Arnar Jónsson, Þórhildur Þórleifsdóttir and Dilla Narfason at Willow Point.
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Bjarni Guðráðsson met one of his relatives in Gimli, Evelyn
Thorvaldson, the author of the book My Amma and Me.
Sigrún Einarsdóttir is between them.
Lake Theatre at the Icelandic of Icelandic at the University
Heritage Museum in Gimli. of Manitoba invited him and
The Icelandic Consulate in his wife Sigrún Einarsdóttir to
Winnipeg and the Department Manitoba.
A play about the emigrants
Recently director Þórhildur
Þorleifsdóttir was in Manitoba
exploring the Icelandic settle-
ments in the province with a
play in Iceland in mind.
The Reykjavik City The-
atre (Borgarleikhúsið) will pre-
miere a play about the Ice-
landic emigrants in Manitoba
in January. The play is based on
the books about the emigration
by Böðvar Guðmundsson. “I
thought that I had to come here
and see the lcelandic settle-
ments in Manitoba before we
started working on the play,”
said Þórhildur, the director of
the play.
Rehearsals started in the
end of October. Prior to that,
Þórhildur and her husband and
actor Arnar Jónsson met many
descendants of the Icelandic
settlers in Manitoba. “The Con-
sul General for Iceland in Win-
nipeg Atli Ásmundsson and his
wife Þrúður Helgadóttir took us
to historical sites and made
sure we met people of Icelandic
descent who know the history,”
Þórhildur said. She added that
it was also helpl'ul being in
Manitoba at the same time of
the year as the first settlers 129
years ago. “This has had a
strong influence,” she said.
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Ryan Eyford with Erla Wankling, Dora Sigurdson and
Johanna Wilson from the Jon Sigurdsson Chapter IODE.
Veterans of Icelandic
descent in WWII online
Information about veterans
of Icelandic descent in World
War 11 are now available online
(www.bookoflifeonline.com/ve
terans).
In 1923, the Jon Sigurdsson
Chapter IODE published Min-
ningarrit Islenzkra Hermanna
1914-1918, a record bóok of the
men and women who served in
World War I. Two subsequent
publications have appeared:
Veterans of Icelandic Descent
World War II
www.bookoflifeonline.com/Vet
eransll.htm (1990) and Supple-
ment to Veterans of Icelandic
Descent, World War 11 (1993).
These books contain records for
people of Icelandic descent
who served in the Second
World War, as well as some
records for the Korean War,
Vietnam, and First World War
veterans not included in the
Minningarrit. Ryan Eyford has
created a website based on the
biographical and service
records as published in these
books, and the website was offi-
cially launched at the yearly
fundraising evening for the
New Iceland Heritage Museum
(www.nihm.ca).
For creating the Book of
Life Database honouring veter-
ans of Icelandic descent, the Jon
Sigurdsson Chapter presented its
IODE Good Citizenship Award
to Ryan Eyford. The chapter also
presented to him copies of Min-
ningarrit Islenzkra Hermanna
1914-1918, Veterans of lce-
landic Descent World Warll and
A Supplement to Veterans oflce-
landic Descent, World War 11.
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