Sister Cities sign goes up outside Tulsa City Hall

No one embodied that spirit better than Cathy Izzo. Izzo, who served as the Global Alliance’s Sister Cities program coordinator for 17 years, died in 2022.

But on a cold, clear Monday afternoon, those who knew her and loved her gathered outside the entrance of City Hall to honor her with the unveiling of a directional sign pointing the way — and the distances from Tulsa — to the city’s eight Sister Cities.

“She would love it … and probably (be) a bit embarrassed,” said Izzo’s husband, Joe Izzo.

She loved to travel, and the bug hit early, he said. She studied in Colombia and France and worked for the Moroccan government in Chicago before moving to the Tulsa area in the early 1990s.

She spoke several languages, and together, Joe and Cathy Izzo traveled to Asia and lived in Ireland.

“She always believed in the culture and that we can overcome anything if we understand each other’s cultures,” Joe Izzo said. “She wanted to spread not just our culture but others’.”

Mayor G.T. Bynum credited Cathy Izzo with coming up with the idea of creating directional signs and posting them in and around the city of Tulsa. Bynum said she was with him in 2020 when the first sign was installed at the Port of Catoosa.

“We wanted a way not just to honor that work but also Cathy’s work as someone who facilitated so many people learning about Tulsa and taking the message of Tulsa around the world and helping make us a better city by learning about the great things that our Sister Cities are doing around the world,” Bynum said of Monday’s sign unveiling.

As part of Monday’s ceremony, City Council Chairwoman Crista Patrick read a proclamation from the City Council and the mayor honoring Izzo.

Tulsa now has five Sister Cities directional signs, with more in the works. In addition to the sign at the Port of Catoosa, River Parks, McCullough Park and GRC Business Park each have one. Each points the way to Amiens, France; Celle, Germany; Tiberias, Israel; Zelenograd, Russia; Beihai, China; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Utsunomiya, Japan.

And soon Mwanza, Tanzania, will be added to the list of Sister Cities. Bynum recently visited Mwanza with a delegation of Tulsans.

“I will always remember sitting down with the mayor of Mwanza,” Bynum said. “And within five minutes, we’re both talking about infrastructure policy and education and economic development.

“It was a reminder that the things that unite us as people around the world are so much greater than the things that divide us.”

Almost nothing could divide Cathy Izzo from her work on Tulsa’s Sister Cities program — not even pancreatic cancer.

“They gave her two months, and she lasted 2½ years,” Joe Izzo said. “And she worked the whole time except the days she was at chemo, and she worked up to two weeks before she died.”

That was work, Tulsans were reminded Monday, that continues to live on not just here but around the world.