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INL PRESIDENTS
1919 – 2006

 

1919 – 1921   Dr. Rögnvaldur Pétursson
1921 – 1923  

Rev. Jónas A. Sigurdsson

1923 – 1925   Rev. Albert E. Kristjánsson
1925 – 1927   Rev. Jónas A. Sigurdsson
1927 – 1929   Rev. Ragnar E. Kvaran
1929 – 1931   Rev. Jónas A. Sigurdsson
1931 – 1933   Jón J. Bíldfell
1933 – 1934   Rev. Jónas A. Sigurdsson
1934 – 1936   Jón J. Bíldfell
1936 – 1940   Dr. Rögnvaldur Pétursson
1940 – 1945   Dr. Richard Beck
1945 – 1947  

Rev. V. J. Eylands

1947 – 1951   Rev. Philip M. Pétursson
1951 – 1956   Rev. V. J. Eylands
1956 – 1962   Dr. Richard Beck
1962 – 1970   Rev. Philip M. Pétursson
1970 – 1976   Mr. Skúli Jóhannsson
1976 – 1979   Mr. Stefan Stefanson
1979 – 1985   Mr. Jóhann Sigurdson
1985 – 1988   Mr. Oli Narfason
1988 – 1991   Mr. Neil Bardal
1991 – 1992   Mrs. Evelyn Thorvaldson
1992 – 1993   Mr. Oli Narfason
1993 – 1995   Mr. Helgi Austman
1995 – 1998   Mr. Laurence Johnson
1998 – 2000   Mr. G. Ray Johnson
2000 – 2003   Ms. Sigrid Johnson
2003 – 2004   Mr. Paul Westdal
2004 – 2006   Mr. Walter Sopher
2006 -   Mr. Garry Oddleifson
     

1st INL President – Dr. Rögnvaldur Pétursson

Reverend Rögnvaldur Pétursson, (1877-1940), was born in Iceland on August 14, 1877. He migrated with his parents in 1883 to Hallson, North Dakota, where he grew up and received his public and high school education. The young man decided to study for the Unitarian ministry and proceeded to the Unitarian Theological Seminary at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he received his B.D. degree in 1902. He accepted a call to the Unitarian Church in Win­nipeg in 1903, where he served for six years. He was then appointed Field Secretary of the Icelandic Unitarian Church in America. In 1928 he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Meadville Seminary and in 1930 was awarded an Honorary Doctor's Degree from the University of Iceland.

Dr. Pétursson took the lead in the establishment of the Ice­landic National League in 1919 and became its first president. Right from the start the League has published an Annual of a high literary standard. Dr. Pétursson became its first editor, a post he held until he died in 1940.

Dr. Tryggvi J. Oleson said in Volume V., of Saga Íslendinga Í Vesturheimi, (page 70):

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