Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.10.2005, Blaðsíða 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 21. október 2005 • 9
“Being a dairy farmer,
you’ve got a hobby all right.
Those creatures take care of
your time. They look after you.
Afi started shipping milk to
Winnipeg in 1915 so in another
10 years we’ll have shipped
milk off the farm to Winnipeg
for a century.
“I tell you, during the First
World War they did not think
much of us Icelanders. Then
it was usual to see signs in the
windows: ‘Icelanders need not
apply’ — but they needed us
as more young fellows left for
the war. The authorities were
worried about agricultural pro-
duction and I suppose the milk
companies sent out people to
see if we, the Icelanders, could
ship milk by the train. About
90 per cent of the people in the
Minerva district were Iceland-
ers and the farms had Icelandic
names like Breiðabólsstaður,
Ölduland, Kelduland, Sóleyjar-
land, Melstaður, Espihóll.
“Guðjón at Espihóll was
quite an entrepreneur. He had
lot of helpers and they actually
delivered milk into town in bot-
tles from door to door. Twenty-
one tickets for a dollar. That’s
what it was. Twenty-one quarts
for a dollar but it started to get
a little bit better after the war as
far as making a dollar. Yet, those
were tough times and what did
you do when you asked a blue
poor baby man if he could pay
and he said no, he could not pay
this week but maybe next week.
A lot of milk was given away. If
anybody knew how much milk
was given away they would be
surprised.
“I never had a lot of cattle.
Anywhere from 125 to 175
heads, I suppose. We never
milked more than 40 to 50. Be-
fore it was pretty much hand la-
bour. My dad and my uncle had
machines pretty early but I was
considered a full-fledged milker
at the age of eight or nine.”
Helping the community
For many people being on
a committee of one kind or an-
other is considered a hobby. Oli
calls it serving the community.
During the years he has gotten
involved in numerous organi-
zations. He has been an active
member of the Kinsmen Club
in Gimli, President of the West-
shore Community Foundation,
an important voice of the local
farmers’ organizations, breed-
ers’ organizations, President of
the Manitoba Dairy Associa-
tion, President of the Manitoba
Holstein Breeders Association,
Director of Holstein Canada for
10 years, member of the Multi-
cultural Organization in Ottawa
and President of the Icelan-
dic National League of North
America, to name a few.
Recently, he has started a
new way of helping others by
being a guide, maitily taking
Icelandic dignitaries around the
area.
“I guess David Gislason
first got me involved, asked me
if I could go on a bus with peo-
ple on a tour and I accepted,”
he says. “Atli Ásmundsson has
asked me a few titnes and some
others. I don’t mind doing it at
all. Usually I get a song or two
out of it. That’s good. And the
Icelanders seem to be quite in-
terested. Generally speaking, I
think that Europeans, and Ice-
landers are no exceptions, are
far more interested in the basics
than North Americans. They
seem to have more of a feel for
what really matters. Most of us
in North America are way too
busy to look into the weight of
agriculture or fishing. People
only get interested if somebody
comes along with a big crisis
deal like the pollution of the
lake. Then they think about it
for a few minutes. Otherwise
we just go to the store and buy
Oli Narfason is a born musician and plays the piano whenever
he can. His wife Marjorie is always close by.
everything we need.
“When I entered the Gimli
Chapter of the INL they were
having a hell of a time. The
minutes were all in Icelandic
and we realized that they had to
be in English. The people who
could write minutes in Icelan-
dic were disappearing fast.
Also younger people who could
not read or write or understand
Icelandic were not interested in
coming out to a meeting where
they would not understand
what was going on. In a situa-
tion like this you just have to do
what you have to do. If you just
keep on without changing you
go into limbo and nothing re-
ally happens. We changed into
English and it helped a bit.
“I was obliged to go to the
INL annual conference in Win-
nipeg and somehow I got elect-
ed to that board and became the
president. We had to strike out
on new bases and getting an of-
fice was one of the first things
on the agenda. Up to that point
everything was done out of
Hólmfríður Danielson’s kitch-
en or somebody else’s kitchen.
Once we got the office we got
Evelyn Thorvaldson to work
for us and she made all the dif-
ference. A terrific organizer. I
think this made a little bit of a
difference to the League.
All this got me involved in
the Multicultural Organization.
I’m not in favour of multicultur-
alism and have alwaysbeen a Joe
Thorson’s fan. When Trudeau
got two official languages going
in Canada, Joe, who became the
Chief Justice of the Executive
Court of Canada, said that that “
would be a disaster. It would be
the end of Canada.
“On the other hand I’m
pleased that I along with some
other good people got the band
or music program going in
the High School in Gimli. We
worked hard to get that estab-
lished and I think it has proven
to be a good thing.
“I’m also very proud of my
involvement in the Westshore
Community Foundation which
supports many worthwhile
projects in the community to
make our area a better place to
live in. Actually, my main am-
bition is to leave the world just
a little better place than it was
when I entered it.
“Yet, if I had to choose to-
day the time to live in and what
era I wanted to be a part of I
would not want to change it.
I remember the pioneers even
with ox-teams. We had to do
everything by hand. You won-
dered what the stars were all
about. I have seen tremendous
changes, but would not want to
change the era. I have not put
myself as nuinber one very of-
ten. I feel very strongly that the
common good has to come first
and I strongly oppose the ‘me
first attitude.’ ‘Me first and if
there is anything left I want that
too.’
“The North American soci-
ety that I was bom into is the
best society that has ever been
on earth. We went through hard
times and had to work together
to accomplish things. You had
to think of your neighbour and
your community.
“People were basically
honest and hard-working. That
is what created what we have.
The pioneers created what we
have.”
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