Árdís - 01.01.1953, Page 69

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
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Rev. Bjarnason and his wife Fru Lara, reached Gimli, November
8, 1877. The lake was just freezing and there was no snow for the
ox-drawn sleds, so the gallant couple walked from Gimli to Lundi
on November 16th. Following the church service on the 18th, a
meeting of the congregation discussed the possibility of organizing
Sunday Schools. This was done in each district and it is note-
worthy that volunteers came forward immediately. Four Sunday
Schools were organized in Fljotsbygd, which gave not only
religious instructions but also instruction in the three R’s.
The first day school in New Iceland was started by Fru Lara
at Gimli in December, 1877. The list of 42 students is given in
“Framfari” of May 3, 1878. At Lundi, the first day school was held
during the next winter of 1878-79. The teachers were Sigtryggur
Jonasson and his wife, Rannveig, Torfhiidur Holm and Halldor
Briem. The first regular schools were opened 1889, with Miss Salin
Petursson as teacher at Lundi, Rev. R. Marteinson at Hnausa, Jon
Runolfson at Big Island, Johann Magnus Bjarnason at Arnes, and
Sigurdur Thorarinson at Gimli. At Lundi classes were conducted in
an extra log house built by Johann Briem at Grund until the
schoolhouse was built on the town site and just south of the bridge,
in 1891. In the list of teachers who taught at the old schoolhouse,
given by Jackson and also by Thorsteinsson, at least three names
have been omitted, those of Margaret Anderson, Hildur Arnason
and Mrs. Oddur Olafson.
When the old school was divided into two rooms, about 1916,
and high school grades first taught, Mrs. Olafson was the first
principal. The four-roomed school, built about 1918, is now too
small and three rooms have had to be added, one in the school
basement and two in a new building. Riverton School has been
fortunate in its teachers. To name them all would be too long a
list here. During the last twenty years it has been under the
leadership of two capable principals, the late Mr. Eysteinn Arnason
and his successor, Mr. Onysko. The school has a fine record of
orderliness and good scholarship.
The first minister at Gimli was the Rev. Pall Thorlakson, who
came all the way from Wisconsin to organize the first church
groups in the colony. He was a man sincerely concerned about
the future of the Icelandic settlers and felt strongly that they should
seek a territory where the difficulties were not so great. After the
flood of 1880 many followed his advice and moved to regions where