DAVID GISLASON, O.M.

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DAVID GISLASON, O.M.

1941 - 2023

Surrounded by the people and the voices he loved during his final illness, David passed away peacefully on the morning of April 21, 2023, at the Johnson Memorial Hospital in Gimli.

Left to mourn his passing are his wife, Judy Richardson; his daughters, Kathy and Shelly (William Forsyth); grandchildren, Lauren Doell (Derek), Dustin Palsson (Miso Bogdanic), Bailey Palsson (Dave Weber), Morgan Palsson (Nick McGill), and Taylor Palsson (Kobie Barker); Aiden Ari Forsyth (Danielle Shemie), and Elin Forsyth (Yusako Uchino); his brothers, Wayne and Lorne (Shirley) as well as many nephews, nieces, and cousins both here and in Iceland.

David was predeceased by his parents, Joseph and Gudrun Gislason; his wife of many years, Gladys; his son-in-law Raymond Palsson and his sister Josephine Kristjanson, as well as many other close relatives and friends.

Born at home on the farm Svadastadir in the Geysir district on December 22,1941, David grew up helping with farm work from an early age, in the days when horses were still used for many tasks. Icelandic was consistently spoken at home and was David’s first language. He attended the Island School and was an excellent student through his high school years in Arborg and Riverton. Planning to attend the University of Manitoba on a Scholarship in the Faculty of Engineering, everything changed when his father suddenly died in the early fall of 1960. David found himself in charge of the farm and in helping his mother and younger siblings.

David met and fell in love with Gladys Fisher, who was visiting her sister in the area, and they married in 1962. Together they raised their two daughters and worked on the farm that increased in size over the years. Originally mixed farming with grains and dairy, they sold their dairy herd in 1977, and moved more toward seed production. This added the ability for travel and other hobbies in the off-season.

David was very much a Renaissance man. He had an interest and developed knowledge in a wide range of topics - from agriculture to opera, from public speaking to writing poetry, from photography to translation, and the list goes on. He was also a man with a deep commitment to service and offered his time and energy to serve in many areas during his life. Through it all he remained a soft-spoken and humble man.

David was a man of deep faith and served on the committees of the Geysir Lutheran Church and the Ardal-Geysir Lutheran Church in various capacities. For the last two years of his life, he faithfully attended the weekly Lutheran church service, kindly offered in the Betel home by the Gimli Lutheran Church.

Even his farming years called him to service in various areas. David was an innovator in farming - pioneering the use of leaf-cutter bees for the pollination of alfalfa and being one of the first farmers in the area to move to zero tillage. He served on marketing boards for alfalfa seed, leaf-cutter bees, and oil seeds, and was appointed the farmer representative on the forage seed committee of SeCan, which was responsible for distributing new varieties of seeds nationally.

David was a founding member and a shareholder in Northstar Seeds Ltd., which became the foremost marketer of forage seeds in Manitoba. He also chaired the Manitoba Farm Products Marketing Council, the Agri-Food Research and Development Initiative, and co-chaired the Manitoba Agri-Food Development Council. It was said of David that in his performance on these Boards, he showed wisdom and fair-mindedness.

Together, David and Gladys were a host family for The International Agricultural Exchange Association, welcoming young people from around the world into their home between the years of 1981 and 1994.

He and Gladys received the Red River Exhibition Farm Family of the year in the year 2000. David was inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2009.

While caring for Gladys during her long and difficult illness, David began to think about retiring, and they moved to a house in Arborg. Gladys passed away in 2012, and David sold his land and machinery in 2013.

In local politics, David was elected as councillor and then as reeve of the Municipality of Bifrost between the years 1986 to 1995.

Always interested in his Icelandic background, David was a life-long member of the Icelandic National league chapter, Esjan, in Arborg, and served as its president for a period of time. He was honoured with lifelong membership in the Icelandic National League of North America and by its Icelandic equivalent. David travelled frequently to Iceland and when asked, would comment that he couldn’t count the number of times. He hosted tours for various groups from Iceland, including a number of choirs. He also organized several tours to Iceland by the New Iceland Children’s choir. He provided the Toast to Iceland at the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba in 1999 and was heavily involved in the planning and execution of events and cultural exchange for the Millennium Celebrations to honour 1000 years of Icelandic contact with North America. The kick-off to the celebrations came when an exact copy of the statue of Gudrídur Thorbjarnadottir and her son Snorri, the first European child born in North America, was presented to Canada by Iceland‘s prime minister, David Oddsson. The original stands in Snaefellsnes in Iceland, and Canada´s statue stands in the foyer of Library Archives Canada in Ottawa. Some of the other cultural events organized by David included music, plays, and a puppeteer entertaining across Icelandic communities in Canada.

David was presented with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Falcon in the year 2000, as an honour for his efforts for the Millennium and other ways he helped to foster the link between Canada and Iceland.

For his overall contributions in many fields, David was invested with the Order of Manitoba in 2008, that order being Manitoba’s highest honour.

David was very well-read in both the Icelandic and English languages. He loved poetry and often recited his favourites by memory. He wrote his own poems, often as tributes for events, but sometimes lyric poems dealing with deeper issues. He began to translate Icelandic poetry into English, in which he showed a true gift, not only translating the words, but incorporating the spirit of the poem, the rhythm, cadence, rhyming, and alliteration of the original. In doing this, he opened up the world of the poetry of our ancestors for those who may have lost the ability to read Icelandic.

He was named the skald (official poet) of the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba in 2014, writing poems for various events related to the Festival.

David published a book of his original poetry and translations from the Icelandic in 2010, which premiered at McNally Robinson books. It is entitled Fifth Dimension.

David was twice honoured by the IODE (Jon Sigurdsson Chapter) - the first being a Good Citizenship Award. The second was their nomination of him to receive the Joan Inga Eyolfson Cadham Award at the INL Convention in 2018. The award, which was his very last award, is given to an individual who has been outstanding in the promotion of Icelandic Heritage and Culture through Literature or other arts. David was very pleased to receive this honour - so much so that he rose from his hospital bed following surgery to go to Winnipeg to receive the award at the Convention.

During his lifetime, David enjoyed a wide variety of activities. He and Gladys took dancing lessons and in turn, taught dancing lessons. He loved to sing - in the church choir, in the Soley Songmenn, and with an A Capella choir. He skied, snowshoed, and travelled. He became an excellent photographer, leaving wonderful images for all of us to remember.

At the Seattle Convention in 2013, he met Judy Richardson. Although they had worked on several projects together for the Logberg-Heimskringla, it was always at a distance. Following the Convention, they corresponded through email and phone calls, developing a deeper relationship. By October 2013 they were a couple and married in September of 2015. Together they shared books, taking turns reading aloud to each other, watching classic movies, cooking together, and they travelled to Cuba, France, and Italy. They attended the opera and the theatre in Winnipeg. They faithfully worked the Saturday Free Press crossword each week, and in short, enjoyed each other´s company.

Following David´s diagnosis of Parkinson´s disease, he was able to remain at home for a couple of years, but in January 2021, was taken to the Arborg Hospital, waiting for a bed in a care home. The Betel Home became David’s home for the last two years of his life. He loved the view from his window. overlooking the Gimli Viking Statue and the beautiful gardens surrounding it. Difficulties during Co-Vid presented some challenges and restrictions, but David enjoyed being able to get outside to sit in the sun and close his eyes, as he always had.

The family wishes to thank the staff of the Arborg Hospital, the Betel Home, and the Johnson Memorial Hospital for their kind and loving care of David.

If friends so wish, donations may be made in memory of David to the Parkinson’s Society of Canada by calling 1-888-664-1973, the Lögberg-Heimskringla Inc., 835 Marion Street, Winnipeg, MB R2J 0K6 or the Gimli Lutheran Church, Box 118, Gimli, MB R0C 1B0.

A celebration of David’s life will take place on Friday, June 2, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at the Lakeview Hotel in Gimli.

NEIL BARDAL

FUNERAL CENTRE

204-949-2200

neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 20, 2023