"You Must tell the story"

Diann and husband Russ at Minjasafnskirkja Church in Akureyri.

Diann Barbacci 
Winston Salem, NC 
Snorri Plus 2024 

Most Snorri and Snorri Plus participants are several generations removed from their Icelandic ancestors, descended from those thousands of Icelanders who emigrated across the Atlantic starting in the mid-19th century. In that regard, I’m a bit of an outlier, since I was born in Iceland and raised there to the age of 10. My Snorri journey began at my mom’s funeral in 2022. After the service, my cousin Magnea started talking about our great uncle Óli, who emigrated to Canada in 1911. As our family historian, Magnea had done some research in the Íslendingabók genealogy database and found that Óli departed Iceland with his wife and four children. This was all news to me, and we had little else to go on, but I promised her I would continue the search and find a living descendant of Óli’s in North America. That research led me to the Icelandic Roots database and the Snorri Programs.   

After moving to the US as a child, I spent many subsequent summers traveling back “home” with my mom, Alda, to visit Amma and Afi and the rest of the family. My American father, John Barbacci, was stationed in Iceland during World War II. A little history refresher may come in handy here: After the Nazis invaded Denmark and Norway, Britain invaded Iceland on May 10, 1940, to prevent a potential German occupation and secure a strategic location for British naval and air patrols. On June 16, 1941, with British troops needed elsewhere and the US having entered the war, the US military officially took over the occupation of Iceland.  

At the end of the war, having been in Iceland for a little over two years, Dad returned to Pennsylvania and quickly found work as an aircraft mechanic for Lockheed Airlines. That job took him to France for a year, and at the end of that year, he was asked if he would like to return to the NATO base in Iceland and continue working there. 

It was upon Dad’s return to Iceland that he met my mother, Alda. The establishment of the NATO base at Keflavík at the end of the war had brought commercial air travel to Iceland. American Airlines began service to Iceland, and my mother got a job as a waitress at the American Airlines café on base. That’s where she met my dad, who was a prolific coffee drinker! Dad later transitioned to working with the US Department of Defense as a civilian contractor.   

Mom and Dad were married and raised me and my siblings, all while living off base with my Icelandic grandparents in Ytri-Njarðvík. My grandfather was a highly respected fisherman in the community and did quite well for himself. My dad spent a total of 20 years in Iceland and assimilated well, even learning the language. My siblings and I attended the NATO school on base at Naval Air Station Keflavík, but Mom made sure we spoke Icelandic fluently – and kept it up after we moved to the US. ​

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