The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2002, Qupperneq 11

Vol. 57 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
9
Neil Bardal
by Agnes Bardal Comack
When my eldest brother, Njall
Ofeigur, married Sigridur Sesselja Johnson
in June of 1936, we waited in great antici-
pation for their first child to arrive.
Finally, we received the happy news that a
baby was on the way. But there was not
just one. Sigga was expecting twins. Sadly,
when the time arrived on February 16,
1940, Neil’s twin sister, Christine, was still-
born but the baby boy was strong and
healthy. Neil Ofeigur is still strong and
healthy sixty-two years later, but it is hard
for me to not think of him as “little Neil”
(as he was always called, in deference to his
father who was better known as Neil than
Njall.) Being the son of the eldest son, Neil
was a special little boy in the eyes of not
just his parents and grandparents, but of his
many aunts and uncles. He was the prod-
uct of two large Icelandic families.
Neil’s father, who had served in the
Militia during the thirties, had been imme-
diately enlisted into the regular force when
war was declared in September, 1939. Njall
was a Captain in the Winnipeg Grenadiers
and the regiment was sent to Jamaica and
later to Hong Kong, where he was taken
prisoner by the Japanese on Christmas day,
1941.
During that terrible waiting period,
Sigga kept a very brave vigil, never being
sure she would see her husband again. She
moved from their apartment into the home
of her parents at 1023 Ingersoll Street,
which was then in the heart of the Icelandic
district. The big house where Neil’s Afi
and Amma, Asta and Helgi Johnson, lived
was always filled with visiting family mem-
bers who were all living in homes nearby.
Also, as Neil recalls, there was a steady
stream of visitors of Icelandic descent and
Icelandic was the predominant language
spoken.
The picture of the soldier on his moth-
er’s dresser reminded little Neil that he had
a father. He well remembers, at the age of
five and one half, going with all the family
to meet the troop train at the CNR station
and being thrust into the arms of this
strange uniformed soldier. This was
October 1945.
The war was over. With his father
home again, they moved back to the Bardal
Block on Sherbrook Street where again the
boy was surrounded by relatives. His
Amma and Afi, Margret and Arinbjorn S.
Bardal, uncles Karl and Gerry, with their
families, all occupied suites in that Block.
Neil’s father was anxious to complete
his family and he, with Sigga, went to
Vancouver where they adopted the lovely
little blue eyed, blond haired daughter they
had been longing for. With little Jean Anne,
the family moved in 1952, to their home in
Silver Heights, in what was then the out-
skirts of Winnipeg.
From the time he delivered papers at
the age of twelve, Neil always had a job.
He worked as a stock boy for the local gro-
cer, drove a delivery truck for Eaton’s and
joined the Militia. He loved his cadet train-
ing with the Canadian Army Service
Corps, where he was involved in the senior
leader’s program. It was the time of the
Korean war, where he would have been
sent to drive army vehicles had the war not
ended.
Neil attended St. James Collegiate and
United College. He considered entering
the Lutheran ministry, but his father had
other plans. Neil was informed that a posi-
tion as apprentice was available in a funeral
home in Toronto. He was on the plane the
next day. He enjoyed his three years at
Trull Funeral Home and graduated from
Embalmers School with an Ontario license.
When his father wrote that he was needed
back in Winnipeg, Neil reluctantly left