[1] Paul Thorlaksonwas born in Park River, North Dakota and grew up in Selkirk, Manitoba.
He was the third child of the Reverend Neils Steingrimur Thorlákson (1857-1943), who was an immigrant from Iceland and Erika Christopha Rynning (1860-1947), who was born in Norway.
He father was a minister in the Lutheran Church who served the congregations in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba.
He was surgeon-in-chief at the Winnipeg General Hospital and professor of surgery at the University of Manitoba.
In 1974, he was the official representative of the Government of Canada to the celebrations marking the 1100th anniversary of the settlement of Iceland.