Lögberg-Heimskringla - 11.02.2005, Blaðsíða 16

16 » Lögberg-Heimskringla» Friday 11 February 2005
She paints her
family heritage
Sharon Norman with one of her paintings at her home in Vancouver. On her trip to Iceland in
2000 she took a lot of photographs and used them to express her impression of Iceiand. She is
working on her second exhibit in Iceland and hopes to take her paintings there next year.
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Vancouver, BC
Sharon Norman, a Cana-
dian artist of Icelandic descent
living and working in Vancou-
ver, BC, is working on her sec-
ond exhibit in Iceland. “I was
looking at this year, but prob-
ably it will not happen untii
2006,” she says.
About 14 years ago, Sha-
ron brought some of her paint-
ings to Iceland for an exhibit.
“I took some of my Canadian
paintings so they could see
what Canada was iike,” she
says. When she got back she
started painting some abstract
works based on her experience
in Iceland and had a show in
Vancouver. “That was my im-
pression of what Iceland was,”
she recalls.
In the summer of 2000,
Sharon retumed to Iceland,
took a lot of photographs, and
has used them to do a series
that she plans to take to Ice-
iand. “The Icelandic paint-
ings series is the beginning of
an exploration into my fam-
ily heritage,” she writes on her
webpage, www.sharonnorman.
com. “I have done this series of
paintings to explain my vision
of the country, the people and
their sence of place.”
Iceland and everything
Icelandic has played a big role
in Sharon’s live. She was born
and raised in Winnipeg and has
lived in Vancouver since 1973.
“My father was very strong in
the Icelandic community in
Winnipeg and I grew up in it.
Our house was always talking
about Iceland and the roots.”
Her patemal grandfather
Albert Kristoffer Jónsson, later
Sir Albert Christopher Johnson,
was bom in Akureyri in 1867.
About 20 years later he emi-
grated to Winnipeg, Canada,
and soon he entered the print-
ing trade as an employee of
the Icelandic weekly Lögberg.
In 1893 he married Elizabeth
Sigrid, the youngest daughter
of Sigurður J. Jóhannesson, the
owner of Lögberg, and his wife
Guðrún Guðmundsdóttir.
In 1924, “Berti” was ap-
pointed the first Consul in
Winnipeg for the Danish and
Icelandic govemments and in
1937 the Danish Royal Court in
Copenhagen bestowed on him
the Knight’s Cross of the Royal
Order of Dannebrog. Berti and
Elizabeth had six children. One
of them was Sharon’s father,
Dr. Albert Valtýr, a dentist in
Winnipeg. His wife and Sha-
ron’s mother, Lillian Fimey,
was the daughter of Ingibjörg
Sigurdson who was married to
an Englishman.
Sharon had decided to
take her paintings to Iceland
last summer but had to de-
lay her trips since the gallery
in Réykjavík she was dealing
with closed. “The paintings are
ready,” she says, “and I’m look-
ing forward to my next visit to
Iceland.”
WWII
mystery
solved?
Roy Eric Peterson, son
of Ethel and Lárus Peterson
(bom Magnússon), lost two
of his brothers during World
War II. The remains of one of
them have never been found.
New knowledge may change
that in the fall.
World War II had a great
influence on the Peterson fam-
ily. Roy is the youngest of five
boys. The three older boys,
who all joined the Royal Ca-
nadian Air Force, were bom
in the 1920s and the other two
in the 1930s. His brother Law-
rence Herbert, flying officer,
was killed during the Battle of
E1 Alamein in North Africa in
1942. Another brother, flying
officer Sidney Glen, served as
an observer/navigator and was
killed in action over Holland
on May 25, 1944, 12 days be-
fore D-Day.
“Theoretically the plane
crashed and the bodies were
recovered and eventually bur-
ied in Jonkerbos War Cem-
etery in Holland,” Roy recalls.
When he was 21 years old he
went there and paid his re-
spects. However, Sid’s body
was never found. A few years
ago it was stated that the plane
had crashed-landed and the
forward part, with the remains
of five of seven of the crew,
tipped over into a swampy
area and went down. Further-
more, an eyewitness said that
parts of the plane kept coming
up every year. A commemo-
rative marker was erected in
memory of the crew near the
crash site on September 22,
2001.
Roy leamed about it about
two years ago when he was
contacted by a Dutch founda-
tion and told that if he wrote
a letter to the mayor of the
largest town in the area where
the plane crashed, asking for
an investigation on the crash,
the town council had to react
to it, under the Geneva Con-
vention. He and some other
family members of the crew
responded with letters and the
foundation worked very hard
on the issue. They contacted
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
all 21 council members, and
as it tumed out, the council
asked for another letter.
“I sent it and it arrived on
the day of tlie council vote,”
Roy says. “The vote came
down to 10 against and 11
for.”
In short, the plane will be
recovered and Roy is looking
at the fall. “The best time of
the year to do it is in Septem-
ber or October when the water
table is at its lowest,” he says.
Roy Eric Peterson is an
editorial cartoonist for the
Vancouver Sun.
Upham reumon and
centennial in July
The Alumni Committee of
Upham and Bantry Schools
has set the dates of July 1 and
2, 2005 for their All School
Reunion. This will be in con-
junction with the Centennial
of the City of Upham, ND.
The committee invites all
alumni and teachers, as well
as any student or teacher who
was part of any school within
the Upham or Bantry School
District, to the reunion.
^pYEOMAN
ijy FARM
Stefanía Sveinbjarnardóttír
Ray Dignum
.
Partiam.ON K0H 2K0
Tel: 613.375.6308
E-mail: yeomanfa@frontenac.net
www.yeoman-icelandic-sheep.ca
Breeders of lcelandic Sheep
Upham served a variety
of communities. To the east,
along the Mouse (Souris)
River Valley, was the Icelan-
dic settlement. Other groups
in the are were Norwegians,
Germans and German-Rus-
sians.
For more information on
the Upham-Bantry All School
Reunion and the Upham City
Centennial 2005, visit http://
www.upham.kl2.nd.us.
Krave’s Candy Co.
45 Durantl Road Wpg, MB R2J 3T1
I’HONE: (204) 654-1361
TOU. pREE: 1 (800) 357-6867
Larry Finnson
Chris Emery
Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca