The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Qupperneq 20

162
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #3
replaced by the ‘Lady of the Lake’, the ‘J.R.
Spear’, and the ‘Goldfield’ as the years
rolled on.
Bjarni, Kristrun’s father, was an invet-
erate letter writer and wrote to his family in
Iceland regularly for over 50 years. Many
of these letters were retained by the recipi-
ents and were returned to the family and
were placed in trust at the National
Icelandic Archives in Reykjavik.
Over the years the company continual-
ly expanded and fishing stations were
established at Moose Island, Black Bear,
Berens River, Catfish Creek, Spider Island,
Georges Island, and Lynx Harbour.
Sigurdsson Fisheries became the largest
operation on Lake Winnipeg. It is now part
of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Board.
S.V. and his uncles were involved in
other ventures such as Lake Winnipeg Fur
Farms (1938) with operations at Riverton
and Selkirk, Gimli Motors (1944) the
General Motors Dealer for the Interlake,
and Lake Winnipeg Hotel Company
(1945) built and operated the Gimli Hotel.
In 1940 Monarch Construction was estab-
lished with S.V. again as president.
Monarch was a big business for its time and
it built the road to Matheson Island, did
extensive drainage of the Washow Bay area
and did major contracts on the Red River
Floodway ( Duff Roblin’s Ditch).
S.V. also took on civic responsibilities,
first as councilor for 14 years, later as
Riverton’s first mayor. He was active in the
Icelandic community, was a director of the
Betel Home Foundation and the North
American Publishing Company, which
printed the Logberg-Heimskringla, was on
the Icelandic Celebration Committee and a
member of the Icelandic National League.
He was on the board of the Riverton-
Hnausa Lutheran Church and a member of
both the Masons and Shriners.
Kristrun, in addition to managing the
home and caring for the family, was very
active in the church, sang in the choir, was
a member of the Lutheran Ladies Aid and
the Women’s Institute.
S.V. and Kristrun were involved in
many other community endeavors but
their main interest and source of pride over
the years was the family, four sons and four
daughters.
Explore Manitoba’s
Icelandic Heritage
Solmundson Gesta Hus
B & B and Wellness Centre
Hecla Island, Manitoba
204-279-2088
hecla@mts.net •• www.heclatourism.mb.ca