Ása Sigríður Helgadóttir

Ása Sigríður Hegladóttir was born on the 18th of March 1930 in Vestmann Islands and was the oldest of three sisters. Her parents were Helgi from Vestfjords and Ellen Marie who was danish and had moved to Iceland from Denmark. Helgi and Ellen moved to Vestmann Islands where Helgi worked as a fisherman while Ellen Marie looked after their girls and took care of the home. Even though money was scarce, life was good and the sisters could live a careless life running around the island. Ellen Marie fell ill and died in 1941 when Ása was only eleven years old. At that time her sisters were only nine and six years old which resulted in Ása needing to take on more responsibility around the house. This was not easy since her father continued his work as a fisherman and got nannies to help around with the girls. Despite this tragic event, Ása carried on and when she was eighteen years old she got a job as a receptionist for a fishing company. She worked there until she met Sæmundur and moved to the capital with him and then later to Sauðárkrókur, where she lived out the rest of her life.

Ása was a work at home mom but when the kids got older she started working in accounting at the town hospital. Ása had a thirst for knowledge and she loved to read and learn something new. She always had a book by her side and it would sometimes happen that the stove would boil up while she forgot herself in an exciting chapter. She went to night school to learn english and german and the solution for juggling both children and education was reading her school books as a bed time story, translating as she read. She was diligent in adopting to the latest technology and a whole other world opened up to her when the internet came. All of a sudden she had access to the entire world and everything there was to find and learn. She always dreamt of travelling and before travel became more common she travelled through her books which then later in life resulted in her travelling the world.

Ása was a very calm and kind woman with a lot of patience. She had a relaxed attitude which has no doubt helped her run a large home with seven children, but Sæmundur always made sure that she had her alone time. She was generous with her children and approached her grandchildren as equals where common interests were for example computer games and adventure movies. Her children somtimes said that when she spent time with her grandchildren she would adapt to their age.

She welcomed everybody with open arms and showed people interest. She made it her mission to get to know people on common ground. She had a good relationship with her sisters as well as having good friends that she would meet over a cup of coffee. She also always stayed in touch with her mother‘s family members in Denmark and old friends from Vestmann Islands. She participated in social activities in the Vestman Island community and it did not matter to her that she would have to drive five hours to Reykjavík to attend a meeting. In the meetings she was in the company of women she knew when she was little and she loved connecting with them through storytelling of old times from the island.