The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1964, Page 37

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
35
Lalah Johannson
On November 10, 1964, Lalah Nellie Dowers Johannson, wife of Consul G. L. Johannson of Win-
nipeg, passed to the beyond. The following are excerpts from the words of farewell delivered
by Rev. V. J. Eylands, D.D., at the funeral service in the First Lutheran Church
the following Friday.
Somewhere I once saw a statue of
a woman paging through a hook; she
was turning the last page. On the base
of the statue there was the inscription
“All that is past is prologue”. That is
the sum and the substance of the
Christian faith and it is only this faith
which can sustain us in our sorrows
and afflictions. While we come here
with sorrow, sympathy and faith, all
of which we share with you, members
of the family, we also come with deep-
felt gratitude to God that Lalah’s pro-
logue, her life among us, was such as
we knew it to be...........
1 had occasion to see her and observe
her demeanor in all kinds of places,
under widely different circumstances:
on hospital beds, on speakers plat-
forms in elegant banquet halls, in her
own lovely home, moving among states-
men and dignitaries, or speaking to
ordinary publicans and sinners. She
was always equally magnanimous, un-
affected, a dignified and gracious lady.
In spite of a severe handicap due to
deteriorating health in the later years
she held her own in any society and
never lost her poise or dignity......
Although of non-Icelandic extrac-
tion—she was of Irish and French
origin, Lalah embraced the national
spirit and the traditions of Iceland to
such a degree that the President of Ice-
land once referred to her as “the
adopted daughter of Iceland.” And
such she was, in spirit and in truth. . . .
All that is past is but a prologue.
We thank God who giveth us all things
good and beautiful. We thank God
for the life that has been lived among
us, for the services which have been
rendered, and for the faith which
sustains us.
Courtesy of Dr. V. J. Eylands