Founding ICCT Member Erla Macaulay Turns 100!

Yes, believe it or not, Erla is on track to become a centenarian on March 11, 2021 so I had a chat with her in her retirement home to reminisce about her time with the Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto.

“The first meeting of the club was in my home!” she told me right away.   It was prompted by increasing visits from Icelanders to Toronto and discussions on how to interact with them. Initially, the Icelandic women who lived here got together to host them, but soon they felt that men should be included also. Quickly the group grew and it was decided to find a place to hold events, officers were elected and recruiting started.  Before long they organized a Thorrablót, with all the food cooked and donated by members. The idea of a picnic to acknowledge Iceland’s National Day on June 17 followed, and Erla’s farm in Hillsdale was chosen as the venue, and continued to be the venue until the death of her husband. There was always lots of coffee and ice cream, everyone brought food, games were the order of the day as well as walks to the pond, storytelling, lots of interaction of all ages and visitors from Iceland included musicians, politicians, and glima wrestlers.

Soon scholarships were organized for the children who were old enough to attend university, which tradition continues to this day. Erla also wrote the newsletters, and mimeographed them on a Gestetner in her husband’s office. Don Gislason and Garry Oddleifson “trolled” the phone book to find new members who had Icelandic names and the club grew and grew.

In the meantime, Erla had the honour of being Fjallkona at the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, one of only two Fjallkonas who lived outside Manitoba. When I saw Erla and asked her about that Fjallkona honour, she said that it was a very enjoyable time. When asked who was her favourite person in the club, she replied diplomatically:  “they were all lovely people!”

by Gail Einarson-McCleery

Posted in News.