SVEINN NIELSON HALLGRIMUR WESTDAL

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SVEINN NIELSON HALLGRIMUR WESTDAL April 5, 1918 - October 22, 1999 Peacefully, following a stroke, at the Health Sciences Centre. Swain spent his youth on a farm near Wynyard, SK. He served with the Canadian Armed Forces and met his wife Margaret in London during the Second World War. On his return to Canada, Swain completed a B.Sc. in Agriculture at the University of Manitoba. He worked for the federal governments Veterans Land Act Administration from 1950 to 1960 in Winnipeg and Swan River. He was very active in the community life of that town, heading the Boy Scout Association and the Swan River Valley Music Festival Committee. In 1960, he joined the Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corporation in Winnipeg and worked for the province until his retirement in 1989. Despite the loss of his cherished partner, Margaret, the years of his retirement were rich with family, friends, music, books and travel. Swain will be remembered for his devotion to his family, his generosity, his love of music, the rich baritone of his voice, his lively intellect and his passionately held and energetically defended principles. He was active to the end. He loved golf, a game he took up at 70 and played four rounds in the week before he died. In his last years, he had the joys of family reunions, weddings, the beginnings of a new generation - one great-grandchild born and another now in prospect - and the fulfillment of paying respect to his ancestors and rediscovering his roots through visits to the site of the original homestead in Wynyard. Swain was predeceased by his beloved wife Margaret in 1989 and by his brother Jack in 1985. He is survived by his three children, Paul (and Charlotte), Christopher (and Sheila) and Freyja; his sister Sigga and brother Harold; five grandchildren, John, Kirsten, Stephanie, Ruth and Christopher and one great-grandson Matthew. His father Paul born in Iceland in 1887, died in 1973. His mother Helga Nielson born in Winnipeg in 1887, died in 1970. A memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 26 at the chapel of Neil Bardal Inc., 984 Portage Ave. (entrance on Aubrey St. 949-2200), followed by interment at Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens, 4000 Portage Avenue. In lieu of flowers, donations in Swains memory might be made to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (949-3950).

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 23, 1999