The Icelandic Canadian - 01.02.2007, Blaðsíða 36

162
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 60 #4
memories accessible and alive” to borrow a
phrase from Martha Langford.49 Taken in
1921 (the year before Goodman died), the
family photograph visually recalls the
foundational moment of the Halldorson
family. Moreover, the resonances between
Kon Halldorson’s recollections and the
published family history suggest that the
memory of Gudbjorg Eyjolfson’s birth—
the remnants of that experience-have
remained intact. But some interesting and
subtle discrepancies emerge between these
two accounts and the one offered by
Walter Lindal. In Lindal’s story, Gudrun
Goodman is the focus of the story (she was
summoned, she administered an anesthetic,
choloroform, operated, and got the child
while still alive) but he omits the roles of
both the father, Konrad Eyjolfson’s, and
the life-long partner, Bjarni Thordarson’s
in this drama. In Lindal’s account,
Gudrun Goodman becomes the heroine of
the story; she exemplifies the values of the
pioneer spirit that he wishes to extol in his
book that was written to commemorate
Saskatchewan’s Golden Jubilee. Lindal
not only highlights her role, but he also
presents her as a paragon of virtue by omit-
ting her (sexual/intimate) relationship to
Bjarni Thordarson and representing her as
the sole caretaker of Gudbjorg Eyjolfson.
In both family history accounts, the famil-
ial relationships are noted, including the
biological and adoptive fathers. Indeed, in
the published family history, the agency of
the dying mother who requests that
Goodman save the baby contrasts with the
agency assigned to Goodman’s role in
Lindal’s account. Both Halldorson’s
memories and the published family history
recall the ways in which the Halldorson
family was constituted through kinship
and cultural traditions. The identity of the
Halldorson family begins with the arrival
of the first generation of Icelandic immi-
grants and traces its roots to the present
day. Like Lindal’s story, these family histo-
ries commemorate ‘the pioneer spirit’ by
highlighting the contributions of the
Halldorson family to the local community.
The Halldorson story is particularly
poignant since it begins with a tragedy; but
through the skills and quick intervention of
Gudrun Goodman, the family persevered
and triumphed.
Conclusion
Traces of Gudrun Goodman reside in
the materiality of the gravestone, in written
texts such as the obituary, in the repetition
of the ‘old-fashioned’ language, in the vis-
ceral images recounted by a descendant,
and in ‘the afterlife’ of a photograph. These
sites of memory generate a narrative about
the life of Gudrun Goodman; she is mid-
wife, upstanding member of the communi-
ty, immigrant, settler, daughter, wife,
housekeeper, landowner, and heroine. But,
as noted in the beginning, memory is
refracted through a variety of forms, con-
ventions, cultural assumptions, and discur-
sive practices of a particular time and place.
Thus the story of Gudrun Goodman is
inflected with many meanings. Gudrun
Goodman, however, does not speak for
herself. This research does not give a ‘voice’
to Gudrun Goodman; rather, it calls atten-
tion to the narrator’s representation of
Goodman. They tell us that ‘she deserves
special mention’; ‘she is a remarkable
woman;’ ‘she was loved and respected by
all;’ ‘she is an honourable woman.’
Because her story reflects well on her fam-
ily, her community, and her cultural iden-
tity, the ‘troubling’ elements of her biogra-
phy—those that contradict the image of
Gudrun Goodman as heroine or as the
embodiment of the pioneer spirit--are
omitted or euphemistically recalled. The
act of commemoration—both in these for-
mal accounts and materialized on her
gravestone—simultaneously valorize
Gudrun Goodman and conceal the con-
ventions through which her biography is
constructed.
Uncovering the conventions, as well as
reflecting on the omissions and silences,
tells us less about Gudrun Goodman than
it does about the social contexts of recall
and commemoration. “Recollection”,
writes Hutton, concerns our present efforts
to evoke the past. It is the moment of
memory with which we consciously recon-
struct images of the past in the selective
way that suits the needs of our present sit-