The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2008, Side 31

Vol. 61 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
169
A legacy for learning
by Elva Simundsson
Each June, three graduates of the
senior schools in Evergreen School
Division in Manitoba are the scholarship
beneficiaries of an amazing legacy left by a
very shy and private lady. A graduate in
each of the three schools in the division,
Arborg, Riverton and Gimli is the recipient
of a one thousand dollar scholarship
awarded by the Canada-Iceland
Foundation in name of the Margret
Bjarnason Memorial Scholarship.
Margret Bjarnason and her twin broth-
er Bjorn were born in 1902 and were raised
on the family homestead, Bjarkaland. This
homestead is in the community of Geysir,
in the heart of the New Iceland settlement
area of Manitoba. Geysir is a farming area
situated between the towns of Riverton and
Arborg. Bjorn and Margret were the first
twins born in the district. They were the
children of Bjarni Bjarnason and Adalbjorg
Jonsdottir. Bjarni was a cobbler by trade.
He immigrated from Reykjavik in 1887 and
practiced his trade in Winnipeg for several
years before homesteading in the Geysir
district in 1899. In 1900 Bjarni married
Adalbjorg who had immigrated to the New
Iceland area with her foster parents in 1884.
Margret had only four or five years of
schooling. She was thirteen years old when
her mother died and she had to quit school
to take over managing the household for
her father and brother. Neither she nor her
twin brother ever married, but continued
to live together on their farm for sixty
years. When they sold their farm, they
moved to a small house in Arborg. In 1970,
when her brother died, Magga (as she was
known to her friends and neighbours)
moved to the Betel Home in Gimli. She
died there at the age of 97.
Margret's brother Bjorn was a very
outgoing and gregarious person and the
twins attended social gatherings in the area
whenever possible. Bjorn was a very good
mimic. He took part in many of the theater
performances that were staged in the com-
munity. He was an avid storyteller and
loved to illustrate the narratives by imitat-
ing each person involved in the tale.
Margret, on the other hand, was very shy
and reserved. She would attend functions
with her brother and go visiting with him
but she was always in the background.
They often went to visit friends and neigh-
bours where they would drink coffee with
their hosts and Bjorn would entertain.
When Bjorn would tell his stories, Margret
would sit at his side and whisper prompts
to him if he forgot a line or if he deviated
from the stories, as she knew them.
Margret was an avid reader and spent
much of her spare time educating herself.
Even though she was reluctant to speak up,
she was well read and kept up with current
affairs. She would probably have been
quite an accomplished scholar had circum-
stances allowed her to continue her school-
ing. Margret and Bjorn’s little house in
Arborg was adjacent to the schoolyard of
the Arborg Early Years School. Watching
and listening to the children playing
around the school during their break times
must have been a great source of pleasure
and inspiration to Margret. When she took
on the task of organizing her affairs, she
had the education of the chldren of the area
very much in mind.
Margret’s will stipulated that her entire
estate was to go to funding scholarships in
the Evergreen School Division. The
Canada-Iceland Foundation is charged
with administering the scholarship endow-
ment. The Foundation solicits the assis-
tance of the school administrators in each
of the three senior schools each year and
their scholarship committees choose a wor-
thy high school graduate who is planning