Aarne Arvonen

Aarne Arvonen
Born	August 4, 1897(1897-08-04) Helsinki, Finland
Died	January 1, 2009(2009-01-01) (aged 111) Järvenpää, Finland
Allegiance	Finland
Service/branch	Red Guards
Years of service	1918
Battles/wars	Finnish Civil War

Aarne Armas "Arska" Arvonen (August 4, 1897 – January 1, 2009^[1]) was, at age 111, a Finnish supercentenarian, the all-time oldest living male person in Finland. Arvonen was also the last living person in Finland born in the 19th century. He was the third-oldest man in Europe since the death of 110-year-old Frenchman Aimé Avignon, on August 23, 2007. He also became the seventh-oldest man in the world upon the death of American George Francis on December 27, 2008.

Biography

He was born in Helsinki and was the last surviving veteran of the Finnish Civil War of 1918 serving for the Red Guard, Lauri Nurminen (who died almost 2 months after him) being the last veteran serving for the White Guards. He later lived in Kallio, Helsinki, and had two daughters, Irma and Paula, with his wife Sylvi Emilia Salonen. At this time he was a smoker. His wife died in 1938, and that year he moved to Järvenpää, where he lived in the Vanhankylänniemi rest home.^[2] In the summer of 2005, Arvonen was still living in a house he built himself. Soon afterwards, however, he was hospitalized due to nephritis. 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 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 during his centenary 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.^[3]

At the time of his death, in January 2009, Arvonen ranked among the 20 oldest verified European men ever.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of the verified oldest men
• List of veterans of World War I who died in 2009–11

References

1. ^ Helsingin Sanomat: Suomen viimeinen 1800-luvulla syntynyt kuoli
2. ^ Suomen vanhin täyttää 110 vuotta - Uutiset - Ilta-Sanomat
3. ^ Helsinki Times: Finland's oldest person turns 111 years old

External links

• The Oldest Human Beings

Persondata
Name	Arvonen, Aarne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 4, 1897
Place of birth	Helsinki, Finland
Date of death	January 1, 2009
Place of death	Järvenpää, Finland