Wayne Bergthor Arnason
By Wayne Bergthor Arnason
In 1998, I married a colleague in UU ministry, the Rev. Kathleen Rolenz. We began searching for a ministry that we could share. In 2000, we were called to become parish co-ministers at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River, Ohio, just west of Cleveland. This large and active congregation has proved a good match for us.
Kathleen and I enjoy returning to Gimli every summer and our daughter Sarah is usually with us. My sister Christine and brother Gary both have homes here, and my brother Bill and his family always join us for family gatherings at Islendingadagurinn. Our family was honored by the selection of my maternal grandmother Christine Johnson as Fjallkona in 1971 and my mother Lilja as the 100th Anniversary Fjallkona in 1989.
After my father’s retirement as Chief Executive Officer of Manitoba Hydro, we were all proud of his leadership in community projects in Gimli such as the restoration of the Public School and the Unitarian Church. His death in 1998 was a great loss to our family. It is a special pleasure when my wife and I lead summer services at the Unitarian Church in Gimli under the commemorative stained glass window our family gave to the church in my father’s memory.
Wayne, Sarah, and Kat