Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.01.2008, Page 12

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12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15 January 2008
ACROSS
1 Jakob Thorarensen quote, pt. 1
6 Journalist’s question
10 Future Farmers of America (abbr.)
13 Deadly
14 She makes you an aunt
15 Digital audio tape
16 Doctrine
17 Dickens’ “__ of Two Cities”
18 Artist’s creation
19 Agency (abbr.)
21 Pops
23 Second scale note
24 Luau dish
27 Smash
28 Indiana (abbr.)
29 Alternative (abbr.)
30 Rhode Island (abbr.)
31 State of being
32 Baited
34 Roll plays
37 Ore digger
38 Thorarensen quote, pt. 3
39 Thorarensen quote, pt. 4
40 Wood tool
43 Thorarensen quote, pt. 5
47 Flightless bird
48 Excite
52 Cart for hauling heavy things
53 Move while sleeping
54 Thorarensen quote, pt. 6
55 Book of Samuel abbr.
56 Salamander
58 Brand of cola
59 System international (abbr.)
61 Supreme Being
62 Be incorrect
65 Thorarensen quote, pt. 7
67 Dorthy’s home (abbr.)
68 People from Asia
72 Sea inlet
73 Thorarensen quote, pt. 8
DOWN
1 College football conference (abbr.)
2 Deface
3 Snacked
4 Zilch
5 Hit hard
6 Brainpower
7 Thorarensen quote, pt. 2
8 Acclaim
9 Require
10 Food and drug administra-
tion (abbr.)
11 Work place of a farrier
12 Be at a meeting
14 No
20 Fancy
22 Steam room
24 Standard golf scores
25 Fake butter
26 Detail
27 Plant & animal amines
30 Uncooked
32 Fib
33 Reverend (abbr.)
35 Northeast
36 Teacher’s assistant, for short
37 Megahertz
41 German engraver Albrecht
42 New Jersey’s neighbor
43 Yard (abbr.)
44 Medical TV show
45 Make lace
46 Yellowstone locale
47 Spielberg’s alien
48 Time zone
49 Turkish lira (abbr.)
50 Atmosphere
51 Tender loving care
53 Unhappy
55 Cola
57 Cover a present
59 South southeast
60 __ A Small World...
61 African antelope
63 Roman numeral seven
64 Fast plane
66 By
67 Horse race state (abbr.)
69 Jr.’s Dad
70 Silver (abbr.)
71 New Hampshire (abbr.)
ANSWERS ON PAGE 14
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The Lögberg-Heimskringla Crossword Puzzle
Karen Signy Thordobson
When Kirk and I got married, being a proud Icelandic
woman, I wanted to keep my
heritage.
One of the options was us-
ing my name and Kirk’s and
hyphening it like Thorarins-
son-Dobson. We thought that
was too long and we planned
to have a child and that would
be too hard for the little one
in school — as I knew myself
because my name growing up
was Thorarinsson, hard for a
little one to learn to spell.
I have always been very
proud of being Icelandic. My
pabbi (my father Kristinn Tho-
rarinsson) came from Iceland
when he was a young man to
the Winnipeg area and he met
my mamma (Lillian Thora-
rinsson, née Jonasson) who is
from Riverton, MB. My moth-
er is Icelandic as well, born to
Manni (Gramann) and Daisy
(née Davidson) Jonasson (both
of Icelandic descent). So I al-
ways loved the fact that I was
100 per cent Icelandic.
My parents met at a dance
in Arborg. My Pabbi came from
east Iceland in Reyðarfjörður
(meaning “whale fjord”). We
have lots of relatives in Ice-
land and the Lake Winnipeg
area and my afi (Manni) was a
fisherman (like his forefathers)
on Lake Winnipeg. When I
was a child we went to River-
ton every summer to visit all
my relatives and to Gimli for
the Íslendingadagurinn.
In 1978 we went to Iceland
and I was so excited to see
where my father came from
and all my relatives on both my
mother and father’s side. Al-
though I had never been there
it felt like I was “going home”
to this mysterious magic land
where my people had come
from. Needless to say it has al-
ways been very important part
of my life, to be Icelandic.
Therefore, when Kirk and
I got married, I didn’t want to
lose my name, which indicated
where I came from. Kirk and
I came up with a family name
and we decided that we would
keep the “Thor, God of thun-
der” part of my name and put it
with Kirk’s name. So we took
my Thor and his Dobson and
came up with the last name that
we thought even still sounded
Icelandic: “Thordobson.”
We had the name legally
changed and it is our family
name. When we had a child
they would have part of both
our heritages in their name. We
had Kristin Freyja on 28 Janu-
ary 2005. Kristin is named af-
ter her afi (Kristinn Thorarins-
son) and Freyja is the goddess
of love and beauty from Norse
mythology.
Karen Signy Thordobson
lives in Calgary, AB.
What’s in a name?
Stefán Stefánson
Stefan J. Stefanson passed away
2 January 2008 at the Gimli Commu-
nity Health Centre. Born in Gimli to Valdi
and Gudny Stefanson. He married Olla
Einarson, and spent 64 wonderful years
together. They had five children: Lorna
(Terry) Tergesen, Ernest (Claire), Maria
Bear, Valdimar and Eric (Barb); grandchil-
dren Svenn, Stefan, Johann, Tristin, Sig-
rid, Laura, Morgan, Jackie, Tara, Brynna,
Aiden and Logan; great-grandchildren
Kol, Svava, Joren and Maren, as well as
numerous nieces and nephews and spe-
cial family friend Winston (Joy) Stranger.
Predeceased by his wife Olla (2000), his
two sisters Ella (Dick) Angevine and Lulu
(Ingvar) Gudmundson, grandson Soren,
daughter-in-law Carolyn and son-in-law
Gerald Bear.
Stefan went into partnership with
his father in mixed farming until the
mid-1970s. On the farm he could fix or
rebuild just about anything with only the
materials at hand. His love of machinery
is evident in that he still owned five trac-
tors at the age of 92. Although farming
life was a family affair and not always
easy, Stefan was a hard worker with a
positive attitude and was always ready
to help his neighbours. He also worked
as a County Court Bailiff and went on to
work at the Sheriff’s Office in Winnipeg,
eventually becoming the Chief Sheriff for
the Province of Manitoba, the first non-
lawyer to hold the position. Stefan was
fiercely proud of his Icelandic heritage
and shared his love for the language and
culture with his children and grandchil-
dren. He led by example, always eager
to speak the language and traveled to
Iceland more than 35 times. On Stefan’s
first trip to Iceland in 1968, a bond was
formed that got him involved in all things
Icelandic. He recognized the need to
bolster relationships between Iceland
and the North American Icelanders and
did just that by joining local clubs. Along
with Marge and Ted Arnason, Stefan and
Olla started a charter service to Iceland.
He encouraged a link between the old
country and the new. His enthusiasm
for travel did not stop there, and he and
Olla enjoyed seeing much of the world
together. In the last four years, an annual
trip to Iceland was the highlight of his
life. Stefan instilled in his children the im-
portance of community involvement; his
role as a founding member of the Gimli
Credit Union, Reeve of the R.M. of Gimli
(1956 – 1960), President of the Manitoba
Farmers Union, founding member of the
Icelandic Cultural Corporation (Museum)
and director on the Manitoba Provincial
Museum board indicate his belief in
his community. With this came a spe-
cial pride and great delight in speaking
Ukrainian. Stefan was active in many
Icelandic organizations, he supported
Lögberg-Heimskringla, Islendingada-
gurinn, Snorri Programs and other youth
activities as well as becoming President
of the Icelandic National League of North
America. Among the many honours he
received was the prestigious Order of the
Falcon from the Government of Iceland,
Honorary Life Member of the Icelandic
National League of North America and
the Icelandic National League of Ice-
land as well as being recognized by lo-
cal clubs across North America. In April
2007, he received the Laurence Johnson
Lifetime Achievement Award. He was
very proud to have sponsored the New
Iceland Heritage Museum Travelling Ex-
hibit in memory of his beloved Olla. He
was intensely proud of his grandchildren,
constantly imparting wisdom and encour-
agement in all their various endeavours.
Stefan enjoyed seven wonderful years
living at the Waterfront Centre. His ability
to speak Icelandic charmed visitors from
Iceland, along with a tour of his suite. He
took great pride in his storytelling, sew-
ing, cooking and especially making pön-
nukökur. However, outdoor work never
lost its lustre for him, and whether it was
mowing lawn or splitting wood at Nyibaer,
one could never take the farmer out of
Stefan. His exercise of walking every-
where was just a part of the importance
he placed on living life to the fullest, and
his presence will be very much missed
in Gimli. The family would like to thank
the staff of the Gimli Community Health
Centre for their compassionate care.
Also many thanks to his dear neighbour
Helen for all her kindness. Celebration of
Stefan’s life will be held at the Waterfront
Centre in Gimli on Saturday 26 January
2008 at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may
be sent to the New Iceland Heritage
Museum, 94 First Ave., Gimli, MB, R0C
1B1. NEIL BARDAL INC. 949-2200 nbar-
dal.mb.ca
* * *
The “G.O.M.” is gone. Stefán
Stefánson, the Grand Old Man of the
Icelandic-Canadian or Vestur-Íslenskt
community has passed away from the
earthbound Gimli by the shores of Lake
Winnipeg and ascended to the Gimli of
the Icelandic sagas, the heavenly abode
of his viking forebears, that they believed
all worthy Icelanders were called to re-
side in following a life well lived with meri-
torious accomplishments.
If anyone fits that description it is
Stefán. His commitment, dedication and
contributions to all things Icelandic are
legion and too numerous to enumerate.
It has been Úlú’s and my good
fortune to have counted Stefán and his
family as our friends for nigh on 40 years.
Through the years Stefán was like the
north star, a constant and shining pres-
ence in the Icelandic-Canadian firma-
ment.
We held him in great affection and
esteem, as we now hold his memory,
and spent untold enjoyable hours in his
company.
When visiting Gimli we looked for-
ward to hearing more of his experiences
and stories of the way things were in the
early days of Nýja Ísland, its develop-
ments and progress in which he played
no small part. Among our valued posses-
sions are two amusing tapes that Stefán
recorded some nights when he could not
sleep.
Visiting Gimli won’t be the same
without Stefán there to regale us with his
stories and commentaries on the events
of the day.
His passing leaves a great void and
much wisdom and knowledge is lost with
him. Úlú and I extend our deepest sym-
pathy and condolences to Stefán’s family
as they and we celebrate his life.
We will miss him greatly, but the
memories of a good and generous man
and friend remain with us always.
— Jón Örn Jónsson, Consul for
Iceland in Saskatchewan