Marie Andersen

BIOGRAPHY

Andersen was born as Marie Antonette Bremseth in Alsøy, located on the island of Tomma in Nord-Norge, on 29 September 1909. Her parents, Ole Olsen Bremseth (1842 – 1938) and Johanna Pauline Johansdatter (1877 – 1972) both lived to be nonagenarians. She was the youngest of seven children. She enjoyed school, her passions being reading and science.

Andersen married her first husband, Ingvald Martin Toresen, in 1928. They had one daughter, Björg, that same year. She was widowed on 3 June 1930 after her husband died of tuberculosis. After moving in with her sister Anna, she met Anna’s brother-in-law, Ludvig Levang Andersen, whom she married on 19 September 1931 in Korgen. The couple had two sons.

Andersen became a grandmother in 1945 aged 35, when her eldest grandson Ingvar was born. He was still living in 2019 aged 74. In 1987, Andersen and her husband moved into a retirement apartment in Leland, Leirfjord. She was widowed again in 1990.

As a centenarian, Andersen went shopping herself, played billiards, and had visits from caregivers fortnightly. She lived independently until the age of 104, when she moved into a Leirfjord nursing home.

At the time of her 110th birthday, Andersen, as well as her three children, had four grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 22 great-great-grandchildren, and one great-great-great-grandchild. She died on 16 February 2020 at the age of 110 years, 140 days, as the oldest person ever from the region of Nord-Norge.

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RECOGNITION

Following the 28 March 2017 death of Ragnhild Haugen, Andersen became the oldest living woman in Norway. On 27 November of that year, she became Norway’s oldest living person after the death of Torbjørn Øverbø. After her death, Petra Høgetveit, then aged 109, became the oldest resident of Norway.

Andersen’s age was verified by Chris Law and Wacław Jan Kroczek, and validated by the ESO on 31 December 2020.