Sæmundur Árni Hermannsson

Sæmundur Árni was born on 11th of May 1921 in Ysta-Mór in a fjord called Fljótin in Skagafjörður, North Iceland. He was the sixth child of nine siblings born to Hermann and Elín. Hermann had moved from the town Bíldudalur to Skagafjörður but Elín was born and raised in Skagafjörður. After living in Hofsós and on the island of Málmey for a while they moved to Ysti-Mór in Fljótin where they started a farm. Back then living conditions were pretty hard but Sæmundur‘s parents were considered upper class in the fjord. Farming conditions on the land were good but it called for many hands for a good harvest and all the siblings worked on the farm from a young age. Sæmundur always wanted a good education but living conditions did now allow for all siblings to follow a path of education. Sæmundur then suggested that the youngest sibling should be educated from an early age and not have to work on the farm. Sæmundur valued education to the fullest and he put emphasis on that his children would get a good education.

When Sæmundur was around 18 years old he got to chance to finish what we can call today a primary school education. Following that he started working in customs at Keflavík International Airport where he got the chance to attend a variety of short courses that in the near future would open doors for new job possibilities.

When Sæmundur was thirty years old he moved to Vestmann Islands to start a job as a hotel manager at a new hotel. There he met his future wife Ása Sigríður at a dance, but Ása always talked about how she fell for the guy that danced so good. They got married 1952 and moved to Reykjavík and then to Sauðárkrókur five years later where Sæmundur took a job at the hospital as a manager. Sæmundur was very hardworking and always had a lot on his plate as he also participated in a many social activites in the community. He and Ása had seven children together and did Ása mostly take care of the home and the children like was common in those days. Even though Ása did most of the work around the house, Sæmundur had his opinions regarding the upbringing of his children and tried as he could to teach the children life lessons that the children have carried with them through life. He made sure that Ása had a moment to herself everyday to read her books and when the children had moved away, he always made sure that they would come and visit regularly.

Sæmundur was a generous man, whether it was for his own family or other families that needed help. He saw it as his duty to help others that were not in the same position as him and he helped a lot of families financially and sometimes it would happen that things would dissapear from his own home since he believed that others needed them more.

He always emphasised how important education and hard work is and preached to his children that they should not waste their lives doing nothing.

Despite a successful career as CEO and manager he was a farmer at heart and he kept horses and sheep on a small farm outside of Sauðárkrókur. He felt good on the farm, he could forget rough days when he took care of his animals.