Northern Lights: Arnold & Gail Morberg and the Calm Air Story by Doug Whiteway, Barbara Huck and Frances Russell provides a diverting and entertaining trip through the history of what was, prior to Gail Morberg selling it to the Exchange Industrial Income Fund (now the Exchange Income Corporation), Canada's largest privately owned airline, which began in 1961 as a way for Arnold Morberg to transport guests and supplies to and from the fishing lodge in Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan that he purchased from his father at the outset of their marriage.
Arranged mostly chronologically but with plenty of digressions along the way, the 167-page book is slim and entertaining enough to be raced through in the space of a couple of hours and covers everything from Arnold's three broken backs from plane crashes to pet ravens and Gail's philanthropic efforts following the sale of the airline, as well as the serendipitous encounter with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who'd been a guest at the fishing lodge, that proved instrumental in Arnold Morberg obtaining the commercial licence that paved the way to becoming a multimillion dollar operation with nearly 500 employees and a dozen aircraft. There are even several of Gail Morberg's favourite recipes included.
Beginning from the Morbergs' childhood years in their respective Saskatchewan hometowns and then moving north before veering southeast to Lynn Lake and finally Thompson in Manitoba, Northern Lights includes recollections of numerous current and former Calm Air employees, including Ross Ellis, Wayne Grier and Sandra Ross-Hitch, as well as former Lynn Lake local government administrator Abe Enns and long-time Thompson city councillor Judy Kolada, as well as a list of hundreds of people employed by the Morbergs from 1962 to its sale in March 2009.
There are also frequent and light-hearted looks at the Morbergs' private lives, including an adopted raven in Stony Rapids and the time a child mistook Arnold's body cast for a toilet, as well as the late founder of the airline's love of fine clothing and footwear that led his wife to teasingly call him Imelda, after the former wife of Philippines president Ferdinand Marco, who was famous for her collection of shoes. Personal and professional tough times also play a role in the story, including when the staff was reduced by nearly a third in the late 1980s and the effect on Gail Morberg and the staff when Arnold succumbed to cancer in 2005.
Of interest to anyone with an interest in aviation, the north and the opening up of Northern Manitoba to trade and travel, Northern Lights: Arnold & Gail Morberg and the Calm Air Story is summed up nicely by Gail Morberg, who recalls, in the final chapter, her response to a teacher who said she was a legend after she made a presentation at a school. "I never thought of it that way, you know," said Gail. "We just lived our lives and it turned out to be kind of marvelous."
Northern Lights: Arnold & Gail Morberg and the Calm Air Story is published by Heartland Associates in Winnipeg. For more information, visit their website at http://www.hrtlandbooks.com.
