The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Side 9

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
99
Who is Donald K. Johnson?
by Linda F. Sigurdson Collette
“We make a living by what we get;
we make a life by what we give.”
-Winston Churchill
Donald K. Johnson is a name known
to many in Canada, the United States, and
Iceland, but who is the man behind the
name? He is known as a family man, an
entrepreneur, an electrical engineer, a
financier, a philanthropist. As heard on
television, “Now here is the rest of the
story.”
THE ORIGINS
Donald K’s story begins in Lundar,
Manitoba, June 18, 1935. His family infor-
mation is contained in the book, Wagons to
Wings, and this is the place to begin the
quest. Here are found stories with photos
of his great-grandparents, grandparents,
and parents, all with roots in Iceland. His
mother, Fjola (1901-1980), daughter of
Magnus and Margret Kristjansson, married
Paul B. Johnson (1886 - 1953), son of Bjorn
(Jonsson) Johnson of Eyjaseli in
Jokulsarhlid, and Gudrun Palsdottir
Gudmundsson from Porfastodum.
On his mother’s side, great-grandpar-
ents are Kristjana, daughter of Jorundur
Gudbrandsson and Herdis Gudbrandsdot-
tir from Holmlatur, and Daniel Sigurdsson,
son of Sigurdur Jonsson and Holmfrfdur
Eirfksdottir from Tjaldbrekku. The fami-
lies immigrated to Canada in the late 1880's
and early 1890s.
In the Wagons to Wings family stories,
Paul Johnson Sr. was entrepreneurial in
nature having a livery stable and then a
trucking service. Daniel Sigurdsson, like
his father, Sigurdur Jonsson, “was a reeve,
conciliator, a manager of a cooperative
buying society and served his community
in many ways. He was buoyant, outgoing,
kindly, had a sense of humour, a love of
reading and was a poet of merit.” Will these
characteristics follow into the future gener-
ations?
THE FOUNDATION
Donald K, with his sister, Margret, and
brothers, Paul and Cyril, attended the
Lundar School. When he started school, his
first teacher for Grades 1 and 2 was Pauline
Johnson, who will be mentioned again.
Icelandic was the language in this village
founded in 1887, but English was the lan-
guage in the school. In high school, Donald
received the Dr. Paulson Scholarship and
the Roger Goulet Provincial Scholarship
for his academic standing in Grade XI. He
was on an academic path of achievement.
While his sister Margret and his broth-
er Paul had already moved to Winnipeg in
the late 1940s, the rest of the family moved
to Winnipeg in 1951 so that Donald could
attend University. As he said at the official
opening of the Donald K. Johnson Student
Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University
of Manitoba, on January 25, 2008, “It is
thanks to my mother that I began my stud-
ies here. She always ranked education at the
top of our family’s priorities.”
From the University of Manitoba,
Donald graduated with a BSc in Electrical
Engineering in 1957. Wagons to Wings
indicates that he was “awarded a MTS
Scholarship for the highest academic stand-
ing in his 3rd year. After four years with
General Electric and Federal Electric, he
returned to University and graduated 1963
from the U. of Western Ontario with a
Masters Degree in Business