Árdís - 01.01.1956, Page 47

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
45
Jakobina Johnson
By INGIBJORG S. BJARNASON
It is always a source of wonder
and of admiration when some per-
son achieves success in not one, but
many careers in a lifetime. When
that person is a woman, small of
stature, petite and refined in de-
portment, and who, though in the
mature years of her life, still
carries herself with quiet dignity
and composure, the wonder in-
creases.
Such a one is Jakobina Johnson.
This charming soft-spoken lady
has won renown as a poetess, lec-
turer and writer, as well as being
a devoted wife, mother, home-
maker and a friend to all who come her way. All has not been
sunshine along her life’s way, but her serene face bears little
evidence of the sorrows she has borne nor the anxiety and appre-
hensions she has known. These have rather mellowed her outlook
on life, strengthened her faith and enlarged her vision.
Even her beautiful home in the Ballard section of Seattle bears
evidence of her varied interests, for it is an interesting combination
of three cultures—Icelandic, Chinese and American—all blended
together by the hand of this woman into a perfect background for
a poetess.
Jakobina Johnson was born on October 4, 1883, at Holmvadi
in Adaldal in Sudur Thingegarsysla, Iceland. Her father was
Sigurbjorn Johannsson, a poet of considerable merit and her mother
was Maria Jonsdottir Halldorson. In 1889 the family emigrated to
Canada and settled in the Argyle district of Manitoba. Here she
remained until she began teaching, first at Lundi School in River-