Violet Bristow Einarson

Vesturfarar

At a young age, Violet Bristow Einarson became passionately interested in her Icelandic origins in the Canadian community of which she was a part. In VÆÆ V there is a nice summary of her life, which goes like this: “She completed her 11th grade exam at the school in Gimli and has not attended any more schools. She has had a great impact on the history of Gimli and has had a great influence on its development over the past years. She served on the board of the retirement home BETEL for many years. Is the chairman of the Development Institute of the local government and Gimli. Appointed by the Provincial Government of Manitoba to the advisory committee of the Industrial Parks in Gimli. She was the first woman elected to the town council of Gimli 1958-1961 and elected mayor of Gimli 1962-1967, but that year the 100th anniversary of the Canadian state was celebrated and she was responsible for organizing the celebrations in Gimli. She was elected mayor again in 1972-1974 and for a third time in 1974-1977, but chose not to run again. She received a large majority of votes all these times. She was mayor in 1975, when 100 years of Icelandic settlement in Gimli and New Iceland were commemorated, and it was her turn to lead the town in those celebrations. On August 3, 1975, she and Bjarni Einarsson, the mayor of Akureyri, signed a sister city agreement between Gimli and Akureyri at a ceremony hosted by the Gimli town council, where, among others, the president of Iceland, Kristján Eldjárn, was present… Interests of Mrs. Einarsson are many other than municipal politics. She practices the winter sport of curling, paints and plays the organ, and writes poetry. She came to Iceland for the first time in 1976 at the invitation of the town council of Akureyri and then had the opportunity to meet her relatives in Akureyri and Eyjafjörður and sat with them at a large family reunion.”

English version by Thor group.