| Aarne Arvonen | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 4, 1897 Helsinki, Finland |
| Died | January 1, 2009 (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.
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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.