Irma Kalniņa born Irma Arma Anna Ferliņ aka Irma Johnston (born 7 October 1950) is an American of Latvian heritage who moved to Latvia in 1999. In 2022 she was elected the Latvian parliament.

Life

Kalniņa was born in New York in 1950. Her mother had avoided being deported to Siberia with the rest of her family because the authorities were told that she was dead. Her parents were Latvian immigrants who had moved to America. Her father was a tailor and her mother could speak six languages. Irma's first language was Latvian and her parents gave her lessons in the culture of Latvia. She wanted to be a doctor but her father decided she wasn't clever enough and told her to be a teacher. He taught her about etiquette. She went to

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, but she could not find work as a teacher. Her father decided that she was a secretary. She was working in the Latvian embassy in Washington when

Anatolijs Gorbunovs Anatolijs Gorbunovs, also known as Anatoly Valeryanovich Gorbunov (; born 10 February 1942), is a Latvian politician who served as the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet during the final years of the Soviet regime in Latvia and as Chairman of the ...

was appointed as an ambassador to the United Nations. She moved to New York to join his staff. She had first spoken to Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš when he was working at the Latvian embassy in America in 1992. Latvia was an independent country and Irma told him of the ''Latvian Renaissance'' campaign to supply medicines to Latvia because Russia had stopped supplying them. They were both enthusiastic about Latvia. Despite both of them having their own families they began living together and Ojārs became the Latvian ambassador to America and Mexico in 1993. They married on 20 February 1996 receiving congratulations from

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and also from

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. They moved to Lativia in 1999. Kalniņa is an expert concerning etiquette. In 2018 she was at the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and d ...

publicising her book "At the Table". Her husband died in 2021. In 2022 she was elected the

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the p ...

(Latvian parliament), where she was the secretary to the Saeima Foreign Affairs Committee. In November 2024 she was in Montreal as a member of the Latvian delegation to the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalniņa, Irma 1950 births Living people New Unity politicians People from New York (state) Ohio University alumni Secretaries