The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1963, Síða 44

42
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winler 1963
Rev. H araldur Sigmar, D.D.
REV. HARALDUR SIGMAR, D.D.
When one looks back over the life
span of someone who has lived longer
than the allotted three score and ten
the question uppermost in his mind
is this: What was characteristic of that
man which set him apart? That quest-
ion occurred to the writer when he
heard that Rev. Haraldur Sigmar,
D.D., had passed to the beyond. The
answer came quickly, and it was in
two parts: dignified humility; good-
ness enshrined in an abiding faith.
The qualities of mind which gave
rise to those answers began to unfold
56 years ago when it was the writer’s
good fortune to be elected secretary
of the old Icelandic Student Society
at the same time as Haraldur Sigmar
was elected president. In him could
be seen the qualities of the Shepherd
to be as he sought to reach all the
new students raw from distant Iceland-
ic settlements and make them feel at
home in the Student Society. En-
couragement was needed as many of
them had never seen a village of over
a hundred people.
Haraldur graduated in Arts in 1908
from Wesley College, now United Col-
lege. By then he had decided to enter
the ministry, but that was not a decis-
ion hurriedly made. Many avenues
seemed open to him—teaching, business
in partnership with some of his bro-
thers, even homesteading in the newly
opened districts in Saskatchewan. But
he heard the call from within, a call
which those around him could well
understand. He was very careful to
point out to his many student friends
that he would continue to be one of
them. He lived up to that resolve to
his dying day. It would have hurt him
if any of them had to the slightest
degree withdrawn from the friendships
formed during those student years.
Haraldur Sigmar studied theology
at Maywood College in Chicago and
was ordained in 1911. He served Ice-
landic Lutheran congregations in the
Saskatchewan Lakes district, in North
Dakota, in Vancouver and in Blaine,
W ashington.
In 1931 Rev. Haraldur Sigmar was
elected vice-president of the Icelandic
Synod, and in 1943 was elected Pres-
ident, and served in that office for
four years. In 1944 Rev. Sigmar was
granted a Doctor of Divinity Degree
by United College.
Characteristic of Dr. Sigmar’s ser-
mons was a sincerity to which his
abounding goodness and unswerving
faith gave expression. In his public
relations, no matter at what level, there