Stockholm — Gunborg Hancock, the oldest living person in Sweden, passed away on October 16th, at the age of 112 years, 179 days.
Gunborg Hancock was born in Helsinki, Finland (then Russian Empire), on 20 April 1910, as the youngest of three daughters born to parents Georg Gustaf Westling (1879–1930) and Elin Lundblad (1875–1953). Her father was a sailor who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics, and later Finland’s first car salesman. After finishing high school, she enrolled at the Ateneum Art School in Helsinki.
In 1937, she married George Londen, who would die just a few years later in the Winter War on 5 March 1940. In the midst of World War II, she met Robert Hancock, a British-Finnish-Swedish art student. In 1943, they got married. In 1944, they evacuated to Stockholm. After divorcing her husband in 1958, she returned to Stockholm, settling on the small island of Lilla Essingen, where she spent the rest of her life.
On 9 April 2022, following the passing of Flarid Lagerlund, she became the oldest living person in Sweden, just 11 days before her 110th birthday. A few months later, on 18 July, she became the oldest living person in the Nordic countries following the death of Finland’s Astrid Qvist.
At the time of her passing, she was the oldest Finnish emigrant ever, the second-oldest Finnish-born person, and the second-oldest person ever to have lived or died in Sweden.
Featured image: At the age of 110. (Source: Dagens Nyheter)
LongeviQuest sends our deepest condolences to the bereaved family and friends of Gunborg Hancock.
