The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Blaðsíða 32

174
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #3
throngs in the sold-out hall was Premier
Gary Filmon and his wife Janice. Here is
what Janice Filmon, as captured on the
cover notes of the live recording, later said
about her experience:
“Only on a Saturday night in a small
Manitoba community could you be treated
to such a special brand of entertainment . .
. to have your whole being touched as you
witness what is called the Hootenanny.
Only in Riverton could you experience the
universal language of love through this
music.
One can only try to describe what my
family and I experienced on Saturday,
August 6, 1994. It was a showcase of the
musical legacy that has been part of
Riverton for more than thirty years, and
what a legacy it is. What an inspiration to
see young and old on stage performing
together...speaking the same language,
even though their ages were years apart. I
know our family had our memory boxes
just filled listening to these timeless perfor-
mances.
The love and family values that are so
entrenched in this very rich tradition are
beautiful reminders of how we can remem-
ber and pay tribute to those who have
passed along. Thank you for asking our
family to be part of it. I am ecstatic that
through this live recording many more
people can enjoy what we felt that night at
Riverton’s recreational complex.”
No one understood the mind and body
of the New Icelanders better than Steinn
Thompson. Like everyone else in Riverton,
he was my doctor. And everyone for many
miles in every direction would say the
same. And that was so for over fifty years.
Doctor Thompson, the quintessential
country doctor, was a legend in his own
time, revered equally by those who came
under his care, and his medical colleagues.
The centre of his domain was the Riverton
Drug Store. His son Johnny was the phar-
macist, a role that Doc performed until
Johnny graduated and the medical office
was the office behind. Many times I found
myself sitting with Doc on one of his two
plain round chairs with solid steel rods
curving up from the floor to frame the
backs. Doc always suffered from droopy
eyelids, looking as if he was falling asleep,
squinting to look down my throat, a
Fudgsicle stick pushed down my tongue
telling me to “open more” as he peered into
another episode of tonsillitis.
So many times have I heard this story
that perhaps it has lived in my mind as a
second-hand result of the telling, but I
believe otherwise. Even though only three,
I can see the office and Doc squinting at
that bottle brought to him by my
anguished mother. He looked deeply into
the red liquid it was holding and said, “This
is not blood. This is food dye. Has he eaten
something?” The jig was up and the empty
bottle of maraschino cherries was soon dis-
covered. Doc had a way of cutting to the
quick and when it came to diagnosis he was
an acknowledged master. He knew every-
one in the community, their father and
mother, and grandmother and grandfather.
He knew family dispositions and tenden-
cies, so when he made a referral to the
Pharmacists:
ERNEST STEFANSON
GARRY FEDORCHUK
CLAIRE GILLIS
642-5504
IFSPHARMASAVE
We care
about your health
Centre and Fourth / Gimli, MB / ROC 1 BO