Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1966, Page 64

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TÍMARIT ÞJÓÐRÆKNISFÉLAGS ÍSLENDINGA
ceived his Bachelor of Science de-
gree cum laude, in 1903. He was pro-
ceeding towards his Master of Sci-
ence degree when a sudden illness
and death cut short his career, in
February, 1904.
The untimely death of these two
young men of promise was tragic,
but others among the early leaders
lived to realize on the promise of
their student years. To mention one,
Thorbergur Thorvaldson, the young-
er brother of Thorvaldur, became
the head of the Chemistry Depart-
ment at the University of Saskat-
chewan, was awarded the Marshall
Tory medal by the Royal Society of
Canada, and received international
recognition as a scientist.
Jonas Jonasson, a graduate of
Wesley College, University of Mani-
toba, in 1912, now takes up the
thread of the story.
I was a member of the Icelandic
Students Society from the fall of
1907 to the spring of 1912. I was
never on the executive, but there
were few meetings which I did not
attend. The members were mainly
students from Wesley College, al-
though there were some from the
Medical School, the Normal School,
and the Winnipeg Collegiate Insti-
tute. Active members during that
period were, I belive, in the neigh-
bourhood of fifty. In that period
the presidents were: Haraldur
Sigmar, Johannes P. Palsson, Bald-
ur Olson, Walter J. Lindal, and
Hallgrimur Jonsson. Meetings were
held fortnightly in the main — there
would be no meeting in the latter
half of December and the last meet-
ing would be in the latter part of
March. Meetings were held in the
basements of the Icelandic churches
— the First Lutheran Church on
Bannatyne; the Tabernacle Church
on Furby and Sargent, and the Uni-
tarian Church on Sherbrooke and
Sargent. Meetings were usually of a
literary nature; there were some
social meetings — I would judge not
more than two a year. At these social
meetings guests were invited, who
were not members of the society.
Efforts were made to have a pro-
gram of an entertaining nature.
There were musical selections, coffee
was served and games were played.
There were promenades, but never
any dancing. The students, however,
held dances separate from any meet-
ing of the Students Society. I recall
two — one was in the Good Templars
Hall and sponsored by private indi-
viduals (members of the Students
Society); the other was sponsored by
the Society itself (if memory serves,
this was in Manitoba Hall in the
winter of 1911—1912). These two
dances were somewhat of a formal
nature, with printed programs, but
informal dress, however, was the
order for most.
Meetings were usually of a literary
character. After business had been
disposed of, there might be a musical
item, then short speeches on a varie-
ty of topics, or a debate. Members
would be called on to give five-
minute speeches on some topic of
their own choice, or they might be
given a topic to speak on. Members
were usually advised in advance if
they might be called on to speak,
but I recall one occasion on which
they were given the topic when