GUDLAUG (LAUGA) ADALHEIDUR MAGNUSSON (OLAFSON)

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

GUDLAUG (LAUGA) ADALHEIDUR MAGNUSSON (nee OLAFSON) 1914 - 2013 Peacefully, Lauga passed away at the Selkirk Betel Home September 7, 2013. She was born on a grain and cattle farm October 15, 1914, in a small Icelandic community near Sinclair, MB, the daughter of Thorgrimur Olafsson from Borganes, Iceland and Gudrun Rosa Thorsteinsdottir from Leira, Iceland. In 1929, Lauga came to Winnipeg to attend the Jon Bjarnason Academy (JBA). She stayed in her beloved West End for 83 years. In the Depression, she lived and worked as a caregiver with wonderful families of the Icelandic West End. In 1940, she married her former JBA teacher Agnar Rae Magnusson. They shared their love and support for one another until Agnar passed away in 1996. Lauga learned to read Icelandic when she was three. Reading fueled her passion for telling stories: about Icelandic "littlafolk" that shared their farm; how a prairie blizzard would be presaged by dreams of a white stallion, galloping in from the northwest; what it was like in a boarding house full of Winnipeg Icelanders in the Depression. Lauga enjoyed the people that came into her life: family, friends, relatives visiting from faraway places like Iceland and California. She celebrated with conversation, infectious laughter, chocolate, vinarterta, and good coffee in her house on Garfield. Lauga was a longstanding member of a women's club known as "The Bridge Club That Never Played Bridge". Members of the club, all good bridge players, would rather tell stories and enjoy good dinners. Lauga was an artful seamstress with a flair for fashion. Like a true Winnipegger, she knew a good bargain. When she was a girl, she lost her shoes fighting a prairie fire and wrapped rags around her feet until she had enough gopher-tail bounty to buy a new pair. Ever after, Lauga had a fondness for nice shoes, and lots of them. She emphasized the value of education, the arts, having a career and being financially independent. Lauga gave much love and support to family and friends and was much loved in return. She and Agnar warmly welcomed their daughters' friends into the family home. Lauga is survived by daughters Maria June Jones of Selkirk (Gerald), Anna Rae Magnusson of Winnipeg, Augusta Lynne Magnusson of Toronto (Paul Stevens), and Janis Olof Magnusson of the West Coast, grandsons Brian Thor Jones and Eric Christopher Jones, and many nephews and nieces. She was predeceased by her husband Agnar Rae, her sisters Sigga Wiem, Stina Burke, and Arros Metheringham, brother Olafur Olafson, and son-in-law Jack Dobb (Janis). The family would like to express their gratitude to the wonderful staff at the Betel Home in Selkirk for their loving care of our mother. Also to the Home Care workers in Winnipeg who looked after her so well, our deepest thanks. A celebration of Lauga's life will be held at 2:30 p.m., Friday, September 13, 2013 at Neil Bardal Funeral Centre, 3030 Notre Dame Ave. (across from Brookside Cemetery) with interment to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to a charity of your choice. NEIL BARDAL FUNERAL CENTRE 204-949-2200 neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 11, 2013