The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Side 17

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
107
fully waiting for the opportunity to make
the most of such advice. As an example,
when I was tricked by my cousins to ride
through Omand’s Creek and got thor-
oughly soaked during the 1950 Flood, I
was getting what for in every direction
until going to Rosa’s place where before
saying anything she suggested that I get
into dry clothes, and then have a talk about
how I got into such a predicament. Her
advice about not blindly trusting some-
one’s advice and in showing discernment
gave me the first glimpse I had of such a
word as “discernment”. She came in and
out of my life over the years but always
when I was at a crossroads and I began to
very much appreciate her advice and to
seek it in such circumstances.
Uncle Jon was more concise in dis-
pensing his advice and it usually came with
making decisions to climb the ladder of
success. When I was attending the
Mortuary School in Toronto, Jon took Bill
Johnson and I out to dinner one evening at
a posh restaurant and talked to us about
making our way in the world and how he
had to fight his way to and from school
because of being an Icelandic immigrant’s
son and how he got his engineer’s degree to
lift himself from the dreariness of the mun-
dane life of a worker. His talk dazzled us
and we thought ourselves lucky to have
such a prominent relative.
When he was dying, I used to walk
with him at Assiniboine Park and we
would talk for a very long time about the
importance of always doing your best,
probably more to do with having a positive
opinion of yourself and of knowing your
own worth, not taking a back seat to some-
one because they seemed to have more of a
chance. Whatever the intent, it resulted in
my always maintaining a high value of my
talents and abilities, which might not have
been the case had Jon not had such an
influence over me.
The two were very special in my eyes
and a good match for one another; Jon’s
flamboyant ambition and Rosa’s quiet
diplomacy offered a font of strength to me
in my struggles with the vagaries and vicis-
situdes of life.
Kevin: As you noted, you, my father
and your families had the wonderful privi-
lege of growing up in the Icelandic-
Canadian West End of Winnipeg. Today
those families are scattered around Canada,
the United States and the world. Do you
see Logberg-Heimskringla, the Icelandic
Canadian and the Icelandic National
League as key methods to keep this family
(diaspora) together?
Neil: I think it would be an exaggera-
tion to say the L/H and INL were the link
in the family; it would have been more the
church where people socialized with one
another. Also a great affinity bound the
family very closely. The cousins behaved
more like siblings. I do not remember L/H
playing a role in my life until I went onto
the board.
Kevin: The final question is about your
work as Honorary Consul of Iceland in
Manitoba, and then Gimli. Firstly I think
that your role here, which you carried out
in a magnanimous and highly professional
(consular) manner, led directly to the
Icelandic Government's placing of a full-
time official in Winnipeg, with the con-
sulate in Ottawa added later. The cheerful-
ness, enthusiasm and splendour in which
you served as Consul, in the several activi-
ties I had the privilege of attending,
whether dinners at fine Winnipeg restau-
rants, receptions at the Nordic House of
Canada and Winnipeg Convention Centre
or the car convoys carrying Icelandic
guests up to Hecla Island and through New
Iceland, demonstrated your joy in this
office, however, I know that you also had
submitted a letter of resignation to the gov-
ernment of Iceland upon taking up this
duty, which they could act upon at any
instance to terminate your consular role.
My impression, therefore, was that such a
complex and demanding job has its ups and
downs; was your role as Honorary Consul
of Iceland for Manitoba bittersweet? More
bitter than sweet? Did it help build the
bridge that brought Icelandic Consuls to
Manitoba?
Monday, 3 December 2007
Neil: My career as the Honorary
Consul General for Iceland began in 1994.
I was recommended by then Ambassador