Aarne Arvonen
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(4 August 1897 – 1 January 2009) was, at age 111 years, 150 days, a Finnish
supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...
. Arvonen was born at a time when Finland was still autonomous part of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. Arvonen was the last known living Finnish person to have been born in the 1800s.


Biography

Aarne Arvonen was born in
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
and was the last surviving veteran of the
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...
of 1918 having served for the
Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...
. After the Civil War he spent a year at the Tammisaari prison camp. Arvonen later lived in
Kallio Kallio (; ; literally " the rock") is a district and a neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, located on the eastern side of the Helsinki peninsula about one kilometre north from the city centre. It is one of the most densely pop ...
, Helsinki, and had two daughters, Irma and Paula, with his wife Sylvi Emilia Salonen. At this time Arvonen was a smoker. His wife died in 1938, and that year he moved to
Järvenpää Järvenpää (; , ; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Järvenpää is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region in the immediate vicinity of Lake Tuusula. The population of Järvenpää is approximately ...
, where he eventually lived in the Vanhankylänniemi rest home. In the summer of 2005, Arvonen was still living in a house he had built himself. Soon afterwards, however, he was hospitalized due to
nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation ...
. He recovered from the inflammation, and his health was good still in 2008, but he had lost his sight and needed a hearing aid. Arvonen was interested in
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
since his childhood, and in 1921 he became a founding member of the Finnish amateur astronomy association Ursa. His membership lasted nearly 87 years. He visited
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
during his
centenary A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
celebrations in 1997, and celebrated his 111th birthday in 2008 with his family, but skipped his yearly trip to the local McArthur pub, making it a low key affair.


See also

* List of Finnish supercentenarians * List of the verified oldest men *
List of last surviving World War I veterans This is a list of the last known surviving veterans of the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918) who lived to 1999 or later, along with the last known veterans for countries that participated in the war. Veterans are defined as peopl ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arvonen, Aarne 1897 births 2009 deaths Amateur astronomers Blind people Finnish men centenarians Men supercentenarians People from Helsinki People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side)