‘Lady of the Mountain’

Helga Malis of Gimli was proud of her Icelandic heritage and loved to share it

By: Chris Kitching

While her adult life involved many moves across Canada, Gimli was always home for Helga Malis — a proud Icelandic-Canadian whose children celebrated her as the “heart and soul” of their family.

When Malis (née Peterson) retired from the federal civil service, she returned to the Interlake community and devoted her time to all things Gimli and all things Icelandic.

“It was a way of finding herself again, and going back and finding her whole self,” said Vivian Painter, one of Malis’s six children. “In a way, it was like completing that circle and coming back to where she left, with a commitment to invest in the community that brought her into this world.”

The new chapter in her hometown saw Malis volunteer with local and international Icelandic organizations, and receive a high honour from one of Manitoba’s largest festivals, while sharing her knowledge and traditions with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Malis was 89 when she died in Gimli on Aug. 13.

“She was the heart and soul of our family,” said daughter Denise Malis. “She was a really strong and really loving and caring woman all her life. She faced and overcame a lot.”

Malis, born into a family of Icelandic commercial fishers in Gimli on Jan. 14, 1935, was the only child of Gudmunder and Gudny Peterson.

Her birthplace was a Lake Winnipeg property where her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to hold family gatherings.

In her early years, she lived in winter fishing camps with her family far out on Manitoba’s largest lake. She learned English when she went to school.

She faced hardships during her childhood, including the separation of her parents, in times that were not the most affluent, but she had great support from relatives, her children said.

After graduating from Gimli High School in 1952, Malis studied nursing at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. At that time, nursing students were not allowed to marry during their training, Painter said.

Malis, then in her early 20s, left the program to marry Ronald Malis in 1954 because she desired to start a family.

Over the next decade, the couple had six children while moving from coast to coast, with stops in Radium Hot Springs, B.C., Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax, for Ronald’s job with Parks Canada.

Malis managed the household and was a supportive spouse while coping with all the moves, her family said.

“She would find herself in a new community, and engage in every one of those,” Painter said. “Wherever she was, she set roots down and became part of something. Coming back (to Gimli) was like replanting herself.”

“The main thing I always remember about mom was her kindness and welcoming spirit,” her son John Malis said. “She always opened her home to all people and so, by example, taught her children to do the same.”

Malis supported her children while they pursued their individual interests, including music and art.

“My mother was the most generous, self-effacing, loving person,” daughter Marilyn Malis said. “Her love for her children and grandchildren was unconditional. Everyone had a their own special relationship with her.”

Her children recalled her great sense of humour, and an ability to concentrate on a book while they noisily played around her in their younger years. She enjoyed introducing her children to new cuisine in an era of meat and potatoes.

Her children believe her intelligence, strength and tenderness followed them into their adult years, while they moved to places such as Boston, Berlin and Cairo, and started families of their own.

No matter how many time zones apart, Malis was always a phone call away to provide guidance and support.

Malis, who passed on her passion for books and music, showed her children the importance of love, said daughter Maureen Malis.

“She had a lot of kids she had to love,” she said.

In the late 1980s, and single after a 32-year marriage, Malis completed a bachelor of arts degree at Carleton University in Ottawa. She majored in sociology and graduated with honours.

“That was such an important thing for her to complete that. She built a second life, which was remarkable,” Painter said. “She moved forward and reinvented herself, which I’m sure was not easy.”

Malis worked for the federal government in Ottawa, and then in Winnipeg after returning to Manitoba in 1993. She returned to Gimli in 1997 after inheriting the lakefront home where she was born and raised.

Malis reconnected with her original community and became involved in many activities. She was the secretary of the Icelandic National League of North America, an editor of the Icelandic Canadian Journal, president of the Gimli Icelandic Canadian Society, and creative-writing chair of Islendingadagurinn, or the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, which is held annually.

“She always felt you have to give back as she had been blessed in her life,” Marilyn Malis said.

Malis was honoured by being named the festival’s Fjallkona in 2010 in a tradition that began in 1924.

The Fjallkona, or “Lady of the Mountain,” is the female incarnation of Iceland. She sits on a throne wearing a formal Icelandic costume of a white gown, green robe with ermine, golden belt, high-crowned headdress and a white veil falling over her shoulders to her waist.

“It’s a woman who has given a lot to the community,” Denise Malis said. “She was so humble. I think it kind of shocked her, and she didn’t know quite what to make of it. We were all so proud.”

That year, the family gathered at Malis’s Gimli home to celebrate her 75th birthday.

Malis was a member of multiple choirs, including Westshore Singers, which she founded, and Winnipeg-based Sisters of the Holy Rock. She also loved to travel, touring Canada and the world to sightsee and help her children with their young families.

She made vinarterta and other delights with her grandchildren during her visits.

“When she would visit me and her grandchildren in Nova Scotia, she would always bring her pönnukökur pan,” Marilyn Malis said, referring to crêpe-like pancakes traditionally made in Iceland. “She would make Icelandic food with the grandkids and teach them Icelandic sayings.”

Malis gave pans to her grandchildren to carry on the tradition. She also gave Maureen Malis’s German husband a button that read “Icelandic by marriage.”

Malis’s son John recalled the time she contacted a TV program to request a correction, after a Toronto team was erroneously cited as Canada’s first men’s Olympic ice hockey champions during a conversation among commentators in the early 1990s.

The Winnipeg Falcons, in 1920, were the first Olympic gold-medal winners in the sport, Malis pointed out. The club was made up mostly of players of Icelandic descent.

“Mom knew her Icelandic Manitoba history, so she contacted (the broadcaster) and told them of the error, and they were interested to learn of the Winnipeg Falcons,” John Malis said.

Malis visited Iceland several times to seek out relatives, some of whom later visited her in Canada. Family members joined her on those visits.

Malis’s interest in people, including those she met only once or a few times, and cultures created memorable moments. The cashiers she met while visiting her daughter Maureen Malis in Berlin would later ask when she was coming back for a visit.

In her later years, Malis, who had dementia, moved into Betel Home, a personal care home on the shore of Lake Winnipeg.

Painter purchased the family home from her mother to ensure future generations continue to gather there.

“Her spirit lives on in all of us,” she said, looking out across the lake on a blustery winter day earlier this month.

Malis is survived by children Denise Malis, Vivian Painter, Maureen Malis, John Malis and Marilyn Malis, as well as 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her son Blair.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca