Aarne Arvonen

{{Infobox military person

|name = Aarne Arvonen

|image = File:Aarne Arvonen (Cropped).jpg

|image_size =

|alt = Aarne Arvonen

|caption = Aarne Arvonen in 2006

|birth_date = {{birth date|1897|8|4|df=y}}

|death_date = {{death date|df=yes|2009|1|1|}}
(aged {{age in years and days|1897|8|4|2009|1|1}})

|birth_place = Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland

|death_place = Järvenpää, Finland

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|allegiance = {{flag|Finland}}

|branch = {{flagicon image|Red flag.svg}} Red Guards

|serviceyears = 1918

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|battles = Finnish Civil War

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{{Langr|fi|Aarne Armas "Arska" Arvonen}} (4 August 1897 – 1 January 2009{{cite web |url=http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Suomen+viimeinen+1800-luvulla+syntynyt+kuoli/1135242787027 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428124706/http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Suomen+viimeinen+1800-luvulla+syntynyt+kuoli/1135242787027 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 April 2014 |title=Suomen viimeinen 1800-luvulla syntynyt kuoli - HS.fi - Kotimaa |date=28 April 2014 |publisher= |access-date=14 August 2017}}) was, at age 111 years, 150 days, a Finnish supercentenarian. Arvonen was born at a time when Finland was still autonomous part of the Russian Empire. Arvonen was the last known living Finnish person to have been born in the 1800s.

Biography

Aarne Arvonen was born in Helsinki and was the last surviving veteran of the Finnish Civil War of 1918 having served for the Red Guard.{{cite journal |last1=Salomaa |first1=Markku |title=Aarne Armas Arvonen, The Last Red Guardsman |journal=Sotahistoriallinen Aikakauskirja |date=2010 |volume=29 |pages=213–227 |url=https://www.sshs.fi/content/uploads/2023/02/Sotahistoriallinen-aikakauskirja-29-2010.pdf |access-date=6 February 2025 |publisher=The Military History Society of Finland and The Military Museum of Finland |location=Helsinki |language=Finnish, English |issn=0357-816X}} After the Civil War he spent a year at the Tammisaari prison camp.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160223035505/http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20020806IE7 Perttu Kauppinen, "At age 105, Aarne Arvonen still knows how to enjoy life"] Helsingin Sanomat International Edition, 6 August 2002. Retrieved 19 December 2016.{{cite book |last1=Pekkalainen |first1=Tuulikki |title=Lapset sodassa 1918 |date=2014 |publisher=Tammi |isbn=9789513179250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJzJAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Aarne+Arvonen%22&pg=PT112 |access-date=6 February 2025}} Arvonen later lived in Kallio, 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, where he eventually lived in the Vanhankylänniemi rest home.{{cite web |url=http://www.iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/uutinen.asp?id=1415695 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222257/http://www.iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/uutinen.asp?id=1415695 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2007 |title=Suomi - Uutiset - Ilta-Sanomat |date=27 September 2007 |publisher= |access-date=14 August 2017}} 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. 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2442:finlands-oldest-person-turns-111-years-old&catid=33:general&Itemid=201 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212124741/http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2442:finlands-oldest-person-turns-111-years-old&catid=33:general&Itemid=201 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 February 2012 |title=Finland's oldest person turns 111 years old |date=12 February 2012 |website=Helsinki Times |access-date=14 August 2017}}