Gunnel Stenbäck, Doyenne of Finland, dies at 110 Years Old

Gunnel Stenbäck, the oldest living person in Finland, passed away in Helsinki on 30 November, at the age of 110 years, 70 days. Her passing was first reported by Helsingin Sanomat.

Stenbäck was born in Lumparland, Åland Islands, Finland (then Russian Empire), on 21 September 1914, to parents Paul Sivard Stenbäck (1880-1965) and Hulda Cecilia Sofia Isaksson (1888-1953). She graduated from Kotka Lyceum High School in 1933. That same summer, during a Christian summer gathering in Kokkola, she discovered her life mission and calling. She received an invitation to apply to the Deaconess Institute, and the following year, she began her studies at the Helsinki Deaconess Institute’s Nursing School.

In 1943, she was ordained as a deaconess and served in that role for about ten years with the Swedish-speaking congregation of Sörnäinen.

In 1956, Sister Gunnel was appointed head nurse at Rinnekoti, an institution for individuals with intellectual disabilities run by the Deaconess Institute. During the following decade, she pursued social policy studies at the University of Helsinki, earning her licentiate degree in political science in 1969. That same year, she was named Principal of Helsinki Diakonia College, the very school where she had begun her studies in 1934, though the school had undergone several name changes. A few years later, she was appointed director of the Deaconess Institute, a position she held until her retirement at the end of 1977.

On 12 June 2024, following the passing of 110-year-old Helvi Kissala, she became the oldest living person in Finland, at the age of 109 years, 265 days. However, she was not the oldest living person born in Finland, as that title belonged to Gunborg Hancock, who resided in Sweden.