Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.04.2012, Page 1

Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca
Meet Iceland’s
new ambassador
to Canada
Two stories, from Toronto
and Ottawa / page 3
LÖGBERG
HEIMSKRINGLA
The Icelandic Community Newspaper • 1 April 2012 • Number 7 / Númer 7 • 1. apríl 2012
Publication Mail Agreement No. 40012014
Serendipity
Sometimes a trip brings
unexpected joys / page 11
Photo: Johann SigurdSon iV
Fara heim /
Snorri / music
More about the INL of NA
conference / pages 8 to 10
INSIDE
Photo: Winn thomPSon
Benedikt Hallgrimsson has been appointed Deputy Provost of the University of Calgary, effective
July 1, 2012. The appointment was
announced by Dru Marshall, Provost and
Vice-President (Academic).
The Deputy Provost position is a
critical leadership role necessary to
advance the strategies of the academic
plan. As the de facto second in-command
in the Provost’s Office, Benedikt will help
to lead campus-wide strategic initiatives,
and encourage and enable partnerships
with the government, Campus Alberta and
others. Benedikt will be fundamentally
involved in supporting the University of
Calgary’s goal to become one of Canada’s
top five research universities by 2016.
Benedikt brings a proven track re-
cord in driving change and leading
innovation. He has impressive credentials
in the delivery of high quality academic
programs, experience in managing
budgets and strategic resource allocation,
and expertise in program and curriculum
development in higher education.
Benedikt has been with the University
of Calgary since March 1, 2000. He has
received teaching awards at both the
institutional and international levels,
and was named one of the University of
Calgary’s Great Teachers. He is also an
internationally respected researcher in
the fields of evolutionary developmental
biology, birth defects and biological
anthropology.
Continued on page 2
Hallgrimsson appointed Deputy Provost
Photo courteSy of the faculty of
medicine, uniVerSity of calgary
“I miss her,” Tom Oleson
says simply. speaking of the
woman who first dazzled him
in 1978. Laurie Smith Oleson
died March 2. She was 62.
Tom was a member of the
Winnipeg Press Club. “The
first time I met Laurie, I was
at the Press Club, at the bar,
talking to four other guys.
The door creaked when it
opened so everyone looked
up, looking for fresh meat,
for someone else to pull apart.
Instead, in walked a woman
who was just magnificent. She
was 5’10”. She wore 4” heels,
so she was 6’2”, dressed all in
black, with a Marilyn Munroe
kind of figure. Everyone just
felt silent. We looked at her
and didn’t know who she was.
She said she was looking for
Pat, who was the bartender.
Someone managed to say
that he thought Pat was in the
stockroom. Laurie was in for
an interview. She became the
Press Club manager.
“I looked at her. I was 32.
I am 5’6”. I knew this woman
would never go out with me.
But I used to hang around
the club and hope. I knew
we both took the same route
home. I was always hoping
she’d offer me a ride, and one
night she finally did. All of a
sudden we had a relationship.
Astonishingly. She was such a
good person.”
Tom and Laurie worked at
Lögberg-Heimskringla from
September 1992 to February
2, 1996. “They asked me to
be editor, but they wanted
me to be there eight hours a
day. The offered salary was
very low and I had a family
and another job. I suggested
that they hire Laurie as editor
and pay her. She’d be the
editor; I’d be the Editor-in-
Chief and work for nothing.
That worked really well. She
was good with people and she
doubled as office manager.
She went in every day. I did
the ‘highbrow philosophical
thinking,’ and she did all the
work.
“She knew Guy Maddin’s
mother and I suggested to
her that she do an interview
with Guy Maddin. There
was hardly a more famous
Icelander in Manitoba. He
said ‘no.’ He said he was
tired of doing interviews.
They were too boring. They
all asked the same questions.
I called him and said that I
didn’t think this would be
the typical interview and he
should really talk to her. He
phoned me afterward. ‘It was
the hardest interview I’ve ever
had, and the most interesting,’
he said. Laurie didn’t have the
training, but she had the way.
The interview ran in L-H. It
was really good.”
Laurie also worked var-
iously as a doughnut cook, an
aide at the St. Amant Centre,
and in real estate. She was
a beer waitress, a bartender
and manager of the Winnipeg
Press Club. Through it all she
was always a wife, a mother,
a sister and a friend. Laurie
was predeceased by her son
Kristofer in 2010. She is
survived by her husband,
Tom, her daughters Jennifer
and Kaitlyn and son Michael.
She was also predeceased
by her sister Roberta Miller
and survived by her siblings
Iris, Shelly, David and Brian
Smith, numerous nieces and
nephews and close friends
Robert Saunders and Marie
Ottenbreit.
Laurie Oleson, former L-H
editor, “such a good person”
Laurie and Tom Oleson
Photo courteSy of Kaitlyn oleSon