The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Blaðsíða 36

78
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #2
brothers in the early '30's. Nothing spec-
tacular, but these were the first mixed mar-
riages in our community. Sophie and Annie
Slobodian (Kristjanson) were of Ukrainian
descent and the brothers had an Icelandic
background. Their long happily married
lives (both over 60 years) led the way for
the district to begin the assimilation of cul-
tures that is so commonplace today.
World War II saw Gimli women enlist
to serve as nurses, dieticians and recruiters.
Happily, they all returned home safely.
The Johnson Hospital was run by the Grey
Nuns. It opened in 1939 and continued
until the Provincial government took it
over. These women, devoted to their God
and church, were also strongly committed
to their town. During the flood in
Winnipeg in 1950, these sisters took in all
the extra patients that were handed to them
and did it all in stride. When the Airbase
was functioning in Gimli there was often a
heavy load with the newborns, and before
there were government social services, the
nuns looked after the severely retarded or
handicapped, who actually lived at the hos-
pital, as part of the Grey Nun family. Two
women who were heroines in their own
small way, were Jona Ingibjorg Jonasson
and Margaret Sigmundson. From two very
different eras, these two offered so much of
themselves. Jona Ingibjorg was the wife of
Dr. Jonasson and a mother of nine chil-
dren. It is reported that she had a comfort-
ing sense of calmness about her. She would
welcome patients into her home with a
warm hand clasp and assured them that all
would be attended to. As her husband was
often late or away for long periods of time
as his district was large, Jona would treat
the patients as her guests until he arrived.
Margaret Sigmundson, who was a nurse,
took on the role of being a receptionist for
the local doctors in the 60's and 70's. Many
a story now relates how she actually per-
formed many of the tasks that the doctors
likely would have been responsible for, but
were too busy to handle.
The community relied on her for
instant advise and today her service would
be called “Health Links" or nurse practi-
tioner.
In the field of politics, Gimli had a
Violet Einarson
female mayor in 1962-67 and then again in
1972-77. Violet Einarson, a fisherman's
wife and a mother, who took on a real
estate job in town and became aware of
issues that needed to be addressed, so she
ran for mayor, won and began the work of
managing the town. Violet was the first
woman councillor Gimli had. As mayor
she oversaw the installation the sewer and
water works in the town. When the town
was being sued for the dangerous streets,
she convinced council to begin paving
streets of the town. She was defeated in
1967 by 2 votes but was urged to run again
in 1972, when she beat the other candidates
by a large majority. Today’s mayor or
reeve is once again a woman, Tammy
Axelsson. Tammy acted for years as
Gimli’s Honorary Consul for Iceland. She
is also Executive Director of the New
Iceland Heritage Museum.
My mother in law, Lara Tergesen, was
a woman known for not mincing her
words. She was the chairman of the Gimli
School Board for several years, during
some contentious times when the town was
expanding. As a former school teacher she
was a very strong promoter of education.
Lara operated the local Extension Library
of Manitoba out of the family store for
years, until she with her fellow WI friends,