The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1963, Síða 43

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
41
ICELANDIC CANADIAN PERSONALITIES
Hannes and Sigrun Linda!
The Icelandic Canadian Club is not
an old organization, in comparison
with many others, but it is already
twenty-five years old, and already
death has taken its toll among the
founders. Hannes and Sigrun Lindal
are among those who have passed on.
Hannes, a successful Winnipeg bus-
iness man, was an active member of
the Club in its earlier years; he made
a special contribution when the Ice-
landic Canadian Magazine was found-
ed, being active in securing advertising
for the first three years.
Hannes was born in Iceland, in
1884, and came to Canada with his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jakob Hansson
Lindal, in 1886. After a four year
period in Winnipeg, the family moved
successively to the Logberg and Thing-
valla settlements in Saskatchewan.
In 1895 Hannes suffered an injury to
the bone of his right thigh just above
the knee. Tuberculosis of the bone
set in and he was more or less bed-
ridden for about 7 years, being most
of the time in Winnipeg. This prevent-
ed Hannes aquiring any formal edu-
cation and he was lame the rest of his
life.
In 1905 he entered the real estate
business in Winnipeg. Sensing the com-
ing of the depression that hit the West
about 1907, he moved to Leslie, Sask-
atchewan and in 1908 opened a hard-
ware and lumber business in that town.
Hannes, however, had a clear vision
of the future of Canada as a grain-
producing country, with Winnipeg as
the chief grain market of Western
Canada, and he soon returned to the
city. He founded the Columbia Grain
Company, and, a few year later, in
partnership with Mr. Peter Anderson,
the North West Commission Company.
In 1918, Hannes married Miss Sig-
run Helgason. They had four child-
ren.
After the war of 1939-45, Mr. and
Mrs. Lindal moved to California,
where Hannes died, in 1957.
Hannes Lindal was a man of vision
and enterprise, a highly successful
business man, and a man of fine
character.
Sigrun, Mrs. Hannes Lindal, was an
active member of the Club in its early
years. With her enthusiasm and hard
work, and her pleasant, cheerful dis-
position, she was a valued member.
She was active in the founding of the
Icelandic Canadian Magazine and was
a member of the Editorial Committee
for four years. Her wide personal con-
tacts were especially valuable when the
publication was being established.
Sigrun Lindal was born at Arnes,
Manitoba, in 1892. Her parents were
Gunnlaugur and Johanna Helgason.
She attended Wesley College (now
United College) Winnipeg, and gradu-
ated with a B.A. degree, in 1914. Fol-
lowing a year at Normal School, in
Winnipeg, she taught for three years.
In her college years, Mrs. Lindal was
an active member of the Icelandic Stu-
dents’ Society, the Young People’s
Society of the Unitarian Church, and