The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2009, Side 7

Vol. 62 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
97
life. Both were very adept at story telling
and were well noted for their extremely
great sense of humour. Their love of our
community at large gave us many an article
or story. We had received the article from
Haraldur that is published in this magazine
just prior to his passing. It is truly a loss to
us all that their writings have been stilled.
Now the magazine board is in the
throes of some changes. It still operates on
a volunteer basis with only the desktop set-
ter and printer receiving payment. So many
people have volunteered their time and
effort over the years. We celebrate this with
great pride. From very humble beginnings
in 1942, when a small group led by Laura
Goodman Salverson realized that many of
the descendants of immigrant Icelanders
would not be able to speak or read
Icelandic, hence the need for an English
magazine or journal. There was a close
association with the Icelandic Canadian
Club and so the magazine’s first members
and volunteers were drawn from that orga-
nization. There was a very strong market-
ing side to the magazine, with members
going out to sell subscriptions and seek
advertisers. Packaging the magazine was
always a major event with much socializing
after the job was completed. Times were
not always good. We know that some past
editors carried the magazine over rough
periods. There always seemed to be ready
hands to help or to take over positions that
became vacant.
Our biggest challenge now is to gain
new subscribers. The list of those that do
subscribe are so faithful and loyal.
However, we need to broaden our list and
we appeal to all of you, who are so loyal to
the magazine, to please try to find us new
subscribers. The continuation of a healthy
magazine will be the best tribute that we
can pay to those who worked so tirelessly
in past years.
Another significant passage in the life
of our magazine is a change of name that
will reflect our broader readership, which
includes subscribers in Iceland and the
USA, as well as in Canada. With this in
mind, the magazine board has decided to
change the name of The Icelandic Canadian
to The Icelandic Connection. This name
change will soon be made, but we want to
assure our readers that regardless of the
magazine's new name, we will endeavour
to continue providing the same quality in
reading to which you have become accus-
tomed and are entitled.