The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1968, Side 35

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
33
Hjalmur’s career was with The Sol-
dier Settlement Board as field repre-
sentative, finally covering the whole
of the Manitoba Interlake district and
some other parts of Manitoba as well.
The Icelandic Canadian Club of
Winnipeg was founded in 1938. Hjalm-
ur was one of the early members and
has been an active member through
the years. He was one of the chief
founders of the Icelandic Canadian
magazine in 1942 and has given that
magazine loyal service as Circulation
Manager for 26 years and as Business
Manager for 16 years. The Icelandic
Canadian has played an important
part in the preservation of the Iceland-
ic heritage in America and passing this
on to the younger English-speaking
generations of Icelandic descent.
Holmfridur Danielson has been
prominent in Icelandic Canadian com-
munity life for a great many years,
as well as in the wider Canadian com-
munity.
Holmfridur was born at Kaldrana,
in Hunavatnssysla, and in infancy ac-
companied her family on their emigra-
tion to America, where they settled
temporarily at Mountain, North Da-
kota, and permanently at Arborg,
Manitoba. She attended Normal School
at Manitou, Manitoba, and taught
school for three years before her mar-
riage to Hjalmur.
Holmfridur has been active in drama
for over forty years ,as actress, director
of plays, and teacher of dramatics and
adjuticator at regional drama festivals
in several rural towns in Manitoba for
the Manitoba Drama League.
She has been a long-time active work-
er in the Imperial Order of the Daugh-
ters of the Empire, in the Jon Sigurds-
son Chapter, where she has been Reg-
ent and Secretary, and on the national
executive. She was also regional Red
Cross secretary for a number of years.
In the Icelandic community, site has
been prominent in the Icelandic Can-
adian Club as executive member and
as President. When, in the mid-forties,
the Icelandic Canadian Club with the
co-operation of the National League,
founded an evening school, with in-
struction in the Icelandic language,
literature, and history, Holmfridur
was the organizer and director. During
her time as Club president, thirteen
lectures were given on Icelandic hi-
story and these were published in
book form with the title Iceland’s
Thousand Years. She was editor-in-
chief of the Icelandic Canadian mag-
azine for six years, contributing at the
same time extensively to the magazine
with her writing.
For many years she has been active
in the National League, including her
years as Secretary and she has been
active in the First Lutheran Church
in Winnipeg. At the time of the cen-
tenary of the Icelandic settlement in
Utah in 1955, she wrote and directed
an impressive historical pageant.
Such has been the work of Hjalmur
and Holmfridur Danielson, fittingly
recognized this summer by the invita-
tion of the three societies in Iceland to
visit Iceland. —W.K.