Sherman Valgard Bearnson 1922 ~ 2009

Another 100% Icelander has gone on to that great reunion in heaven.

Spanish Fork . . .Sherman Valgard Bearnson, age 87, died Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at his home of causes incident to dementia. He was born April 25, 1922 in Spanish Fork, Utah to Icelandic immigrant parents, Gisle Bearnson (Gisli Bjarnason) and Christina Vilmina Valgardson. He was educated in Spanish Fork schools and graduated from Spanish Fork High School in 1940.
He worked alongside his father as a farmer and cattleman. Although farmers were exempt from the draft in World War II, Sherman enlisted in the Navy to serve his country. He served in the South Pacific on an aircraft carrier until the end of the war.
When he returned from the war, he met and married, Beverly Boyer, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on September 1, 1949. Beverly worked hard alongside Sherm on the family farm, along with their son, Steven. Sherman and Beverly modeled honesty, integrity, and hard work for their children. Sherm worked as a farmer and cattleman from the time he was a small boy until 2000, when he retired at the age of 78. He was the President of the South Irrigation Company, where he served on the Board for 32 years. He served as Vice-President of the East Bench Irrigation Company. He served 30 years on the Soil Conservation Commission Board; he and Beverly traveled to farms throughout the United States in the service of Soil Conservation. He was named Utah County Cattleman of the year and was honored by the Icelandic Association of Utah as Icelander of the year.
Sherman was a High Priest in the LDS Church where he served as Sunday School President and home teacher. For many years he volunteered on the 5th Ward Church Farm, donating his time, farm equipment, and fuel. He attended Utah Technical College on the GI Bill, where he learned flying, welding, and auto mechanics. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and working in his shop welding and repairing equipment.
He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Beverly Boyer Bearnson, and five children, Susan (Richard) Huff; Steven (Michelle) Bearnson, both of Spanish Fork; Barbara Bearnson (Todd Utzinger); Patricia Bearnson; and Gill (Cathy Revere) Bearnson, all of Salt Lake City. He is also survived by 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, as well as two sisters, Geraldine Smith and Norma (Weston) Jones, of Spanish Fork. He was preceded in death by a grandson, Chet Bearnson; and siblings, Sarah Ellen Hanks, Faye Bearnson, Wilma Harmer, Mildred Hall, Elva Levanger, Bertha Johnson, Bernice Bearnson, and two cousins who were reared with the Bearnsons as siblings, Hannah and Paul Valgardson.
Funeral services will be Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the Spanish Fork Stake Center, 1006 East 200 South. Friends may call Saturday at the church from 11:00 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. prior to services. Interment will be in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery under the direction of Walker Mortuary, where military rites will be accorded by the American Legion Post 68.

ERLENDUR ÁRNASON

Erlendur was born 11 August 1844 at Stor i Lambhagi, Leira, Borgarfjardar. His parents are Arni Bergthorsson, born 3 May 1798 at Hafthorsstadir, Hvammur i Nordurardal, Myra; and Malfridur Gudlaugsdottir, born 21 July 1804 at Kollslaekur, Stir i As, Bordarfjardar, died 2 June 1869. Erlendur immigrated to Canada in 1876, where he spent a couple of years in the settlement called “New Iceland” on the west shores of Lake Winnipeg. Like many others, he moved on and went to the Dakota Territory. About 1880 he came to Spanish Fork, Utah. He wanted to follow the trade of goldsmith and learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a great reader and writer. He owned an agency for selling men’s suits. He would fit them and then order from a catalog. He was a practicing calligrapher. He wrote such beautiful handwriting that people would have him prepare their important records.

Erlendur married Johanna Jonsdottir, born 10 March 1856 in Rangarvalla, the daughter of Jon Bjarnason. They had two children: Autna Julius and Steinunn (Stana). Their marriage ended in divorce. He then went to Scofield and Winter Quarters in Carbon County to work in the coal mines. About this time he started to correspond with Katrin Jonsdottir, who was living in Winnipeg and working as a nurse at the time. She came to Spanish Fork in 1893 and married Erlendur 19 August 1893. They made their home in Winter Quarters, where Erlendur worked in the mines. They had six children: Katie, John, Olga, Ella, Cornella and Elma. Erlundur and Katrin split, and she went to Blaine, Washington, where she died 17 January 1944. She is buried in the Blaine Cemetery. Erlundur never went to Blaine, Washington. He died in Salt Lake City 12 September 1918 and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Erlundur is number 7 in Icelanders of Utah.

Thorbjorn in the Mist

Morning rouses in the mist
that presses on the frozen ground.
The wind that traipsed across the snow-clogged lava
left footprints where it wandered.
Peering over the settled fog,
Mt. Thorbjorn idles in the stillness
when the sun is awake but
has not risen from its slumber.

Winter takes its respite
from storms waged upon the fells
like raiders who blew out
of the purple north
and returned in long black ships
with finery and riches that Viking swords
and their strong arms had taken at Seville.

The beauty of the north
has made Iceland a land of riches,
not in Viking gold and silver,
but in the smiles of its maidens
and the setting of the winter sun
that looks down quiet streets
of Old Town Reykjavik.


D. Gary Christian
Santa Clara, Utah
October 5, 2009

ENGILBERT JÓNSSON

Engilbert Jónsson was born 4 May 1912, the son of Jonina Asgrimsdottir. Engilbert immigrated to Utah with his mother, Jonina, and his grandmother, Gudny Hrobjartsdottir. They settled in Cleveland, where his mother married Halldor Jonsson. Engilbert was raised with Halldor and Jonina’s family. Engilbert married and moved to Bicknell, Utah. He died 15 January 1990. He went by Engelbert Johnson in Utah; he is number 165 in Icelanders of Utah.

Leif Erikson Day in United States

Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot in the New World, opening a new land rich with resources for the Vikings to explore. But for some unknown reason, the Vikings only made a few voyages to the New World after Leif. Unfortunately, this caused his discovery to remain unknown to nearly all of Europe, which was in the midst of the Crusades.
The American observance of Leif Erikson Day is Friday, 9 October 2009. It honors Leif Erikson (Leifur Eiríksson), who brought the first Europeans known to have set foot on North American soil. He is believed to be the first recorded Nordic person to have visited the area that is now the United States. It is believed that he visited Baffin Island and Labrador around 1000.
The president of the United States issues a proclamation about the holiday. Many US presidents have, in the past, publicly praised the spirit of exploration and discovery, as well the contributions of people with a Nordic background and their culture.
Leif Erikson Day is and observance and not a federal public holiday in the United States. Public transit systems run on their regular schedules.
Leif Erikson was born of Norwegian descent around 970 in Iceland. It is thought that his father and grandfather were outlaws and explorers around Scandinavia and Greenland. His father founded two settlements in Greenland. Leif had two brothers and one sister. He married a woman named Thorgunna and they had one son, called Thorkell Leifsson.
Leif Erikson went to Norway to work for King Olaf I of Norway. During his stay, he converted to Christianity. When he returned to Island, he bought a boat and, in 1003, set out to explore the land west of Greenland that had been discovered by Bjarni Herjolfsson, and older explorer. The land that he had discovered was actually Newfoundland, which is now part of Canada. The 'Saga of the Greenlanders' tells of his adventures.
It is thought that he visited Baffin Island and Labrador and settled on the Northern part of the island of Newfoundland, now all part of Canada. There are speculations that Leif Erikson or later explorers may have traveled into the area that is now Minnesota in the United States. Some controversial archaeological finds, such as the Kensington Runestone and the Maine Penny, support this theory, but it is not considered proven.
October 9 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the day that the ship Restauration arrived in New York from Stavanger, Norway on October 9, 1825. This was the start of organized immigration from Scandinavia to the USA. The date is not associated with an event in Leif Erikson's life.

Ancestral Home

It is light already
when dawn comes to the day.
Wind blows across the Denmark Strait,
sweeps spray onto the shore
at Keflavik where planes assemble
and depart in Arctic mist and rain.

We come in clouds,
stained by the morning sun,
descend to the sea,
to visit our ancestral home,
to see the church at Kross
where Grandpa Christian
got a blessing and a name.
When he was a man,
he went to the Westlands,
got a another name
that few in Iceland knew.

The old house, patriarchal in its mien,
stands stalwart in the grass
at Arnarholl. It is the house
where Groa lives. She knows
it only as the home
that always has been hers,
and wonders if, somehow, we are related
since my folk lived here before,
but cannot see a likeness in my face.

She does not know
that once the house
on Eagle Hill bulged with love,
echoed with laughter,
that children ran
through summer sunlight,
shouting at the terns
that mocked them.

The gulls are there still,
but none know where
the children went,
except for two, one folded
in the cheerless turf at Reykjavik,
the other, Grandpa Christian
on the lonely plains
where Blackfeet ruled
and buffalo once roamed.

Wind takes the measure
of its province--the weathered
heights of Iceland’s snow,
the willows on Milk River.
But it, too, goes away,
and like the breath of life
becomes the breathing of the past.


D. Gary Christian
Santa Clara, Utah
June 2, 2005

ELÍSABET EIRÍKSDÓTTIR

Elisabet was born 17 June 1849 in Kirkjubaer, Vestmannaeyjar. Her parents are Eirikur Hansson, born in 1815 at Vilborgarstadir in Vestmannaeyjar; and Kristin Jonsdottir, born in 1811 in Eystri-Klasabardi, Sigluvik, Rangarvalla.She married Isleikur Olafsson, born 15 July 1849 in Vodmulastadir, Rangarvalla. His parents are Olafur Isleiksson, born 23 January 1820, died 4 February 1884; and Katrin Jonsdottir, born 19 July 1823, died 3 November 1897. They were married 15 January 1888 in Vestmannaeyjar.

Isleikur and Elisabet had seven children born in Iceland, however only two survived: Sigurjon, born 18 September 1884, died 23 June 1916; and Karolina, born 17 September 1887, died 16 February 1981. The family immigrated to Spanish Fork, Utah in 1890. They first lived with Elisabet’s brother Eirikur. Isleikur worked for the Rio Grande Railroad at Colton in Spanish Fork Canyon. They moved their family to Colton, where they stayed for four years. Elisabet worked at Earl’s Cafe as well as taking in boarders and making bread and cakes for sale. They then returned to Spanish Fork, where they built a home on Fifth East and Second South. Elisabet died 27 August 1937 in Delta, Utah; she is buried in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery. She was known in Utah as Elizabeth Hanson, Elisabet E. Olson, and Ella Olson. She is number 298 in Icelanders of Utah.