Gudrun Watt

Gudrun "Sissa" Watt, born on January 29, 1926, in Bolungarvik, Iceland, peacefully departed this world on December 19, 2023, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sissa's journey through life took her from a remote fishing village near the Arctic Circle to the big cities and warm beaches of America.

Raised in Bolungarvik, Sissa was the daughter of the town's baker, Jon Karl Eyolfsson and her mother Gunjonna Jonsdottir. Growing up with two brothers and three sisters in this isolated village created tight family and community bonds, but after her Father's death, when she was 18, her Mother had to relocate the family to the country's capital city Reykjavik.

Sissa met Dick Watt after WWII...a serviceman stationed at the American military base in Keflavik....romance led to marriage in Iceland. They welcomed their first child Katrin while still in Iceland, but then headed to her very new life in America.

The family first lived in Dick's home state of New Jersey, before heading to Miami, Florida, where their second child Margo was born. After three years in Florida, they moved to Tulsa and five years later welcomed their third daughter Nancy.

Sissa embraced her new American life. Dick introduced her to tennis, a sport she enjoyed well into her 70's. Card games like bridge and canasta and the game of mahjong became cherished pastimes, and she reveled in solving daily word puzzles in the newspaper. She also enjoyed working as an election poll worker remarkably until the age of 90. She had a long, full life here in America, and the family was able to make many trips to see all the relatives back in her beloved Iceland over the years.

She is preceded in death by her husband Richard "Dick" Watt, her daughter Katrin Watt Sumpter; her parents and two brothers and one sister. She is survived by her daughters Margo Slyter and Nancy Brown, sisters Katrin Karlsdottir and Halldora Karlsdottir, as well as numerous beloved nieces, nephews, 4 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Sissa's strong spirit, love and laughter and a life well-lived will be missed and cherished by all who knew her.

In lieu of flowers the family kindly requests that donations be made in Gudrun's memory to Saint Francis Hospice. 

Saint Francis Hospice
6600 South Yale Avenue, Suite 350
Tulsa, OK 74136