Sigurður Gunnarsson

Sigurður was born on October 10, 1912 in Skógur in Öxarfjörður in North Þingeyjarsýsla. His parents were Gunnar Árnason, a farmer there, and his wife Kristveig Björnsdóttir.

Sigurður grew up in a highly cultured home while doing all common farm work. After completing compulsory education, he passes a general education exam from Menntaskólinn in Akureyri. Then he goes to Iceland's Teacher Training College and completes his teaching degree there in 1936. Later he studies in Britain and in the Nordic countries.

Teaching became Sigurður's main profession. He taught at several places, but he was longest as headmaster of the primary school in Húsavík, for about twenty years. Then he was for nearly two decades a pedagogy and teaching methods teacher at Iceland's Teacher Training College or Teacher Training University as the school is now called. Sigurður pioneered various innovations in teaching methods and is a pioneer of practical teaching in this country.

A significant part of Sigurður Gunnarsson's life's work has been social work, which he has taken very seriously. I would like to mention there, in addition to youth and education matters, temperance matters, church work, singing matters, forestry and in recent years matters of the elderly and editorial work.