Fisherman, pilot.
Born at Wynyard, Saskatchewan on 17 March 1920 to Sigurborg Ingveldur “Borga” Schram Thorlakson (1897-1965) and Thorsteinn Thorbergur Jonsson (1870-1937), he moved with his family to Manitoba as a young child, where they lived briefly at Hnausa and Selkirk before settling on the homestead at Drunken Point, near Arnes. Although his formal schooling consisted of a Grade 5 education, he took full advantage of his life experiences. In his youth he trapped and helped fishermen, then became a fisherman himself. In February of 1942 he was conscripted into the Army, where he spent time in Halifax, Victoria, Tofino, and Vancouver. During his time in Vancouver in 1943, he met Anne Letitia Cochrane (1924-2014). They were married two months later and went on to have three children. After being discharged from the army, he returned to Arnes with his wife.
For 14 summers, he worked in the commercial fishing industry at Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, where he was given the opportunity to take his first plane ride. Having had a fascination with airplanes since he was a child, this was a life-altering event for him, and in his 30s began studying to earn his private and commercial pilot’s licences. He and his wife then launched a new business, Gimli Air Service, building an airline and a fishing lodge and hauling fishers and trappers in northern Manitoba for forty years. His wife assisted in the administration of the business, as well as cooking and cleaning at the lodge. After he retired, his family continued to run the business as Northway Aviation and SasaGinniGak Lodge. Two of his children and four of his grandchildren followed in his footsteps in attaining pilot’s licences. His son James “Jim” Johnson (1945-2003) initiated a lodge fly-in package called “Grand Caravans” and added Biscuit Harbour Resort on Lake Winnipeg to the venture.
Having worked with dog teams in his life in the North, Geiri loved dogs and had a great respect for them. He was an avid reader and collector of books, as well as a jack-of-all-trades, able to repair, build, or create almost anything and believing in saving everything that could possibly be useful for something, sometime. A big fan of fiddle music, he attended square dances, barn dances, and fiddle festivals whenever possible. With his wife he travelled to many destinations in Canada in their motorhome.
He died at Winnipeg on 2 December 2009.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 December 2009.
Obituary [Anne Letitia Johnson], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 June 2014.
“Northway Aviation’s Caravans lend some luxury to Manitoba wilderness,” Caravan News, Summer 2005.
“Asgier Johnson,” Siggurdurdottir/Thorlakson Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 13 March 2025
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