Hilja Maria (Happonen)
Laaksonen
- Born: 28 Oct 1898, Litmaniemi, Finland
- Married: 13 Jul 1928, Detroit, Michigan
- Died: 10 Jun 1996
- Buried: Lantna FL
Cause of her death was sepsis (foot gangrene due to perpheal
vascular disease).
Medical Notes:
Mummi developed angina pectoris probably sometime in her
80s, but symproms were mild. Although she was clearly
having memory problems in her early 80s, it was not until her hip was broken
during a mugging that her physical condition and mental faculties declined
sharply.
Events:
1. Time in Finland; 1896-1921, Litmaniemi, Finland. Hilja was born on Oct 28, 1896 in Litmaniemi Finland to Taavetti and
Maria (Riihinen) Happonen.
They were tenant farmers or sharecroppers (torpparit),
which means that they did not own the land they lived on or the fields they
worked but were allowed to keep a certain amount of the grain they produced
in exchange for working the land. Finland was at that time a
grand duchy of Russia, and was largely autonomous. For
sharecroppers life was hard. Large families lived in one or two-room
cottages. All children were required to attend grade school, and Hilja attended grade school at the same time as Alma Turunen, mother of Alisa Happonen
Larson. In 1917 Finland gained independence as a result of the
Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Civil war between the reds and whites
broke out, however, with a lot of death and violence throughout the country. Mummi left Finland a short time after the Finnish civil war
ended (the Reds lost), and arrived into Ellis Island
(check out the ship, manifest and more) on 8 Nov 1923.
The difficult
times in Finland and hard work to earn a better life in the
US were certainly driving forces throughout Hilja's life. When she came to Finland, she moved in with her sister, Helvi Kallio in Detroit. She knew nobody else and knew no English.
She worked cleaning houses, and said she would come home crying. Hilja worked cleaning houses of businesses and the
wealthy until 1948. She was determined to make things not only better for
herself, but also for her children. So she decided early on that her son
Donald would be a Dr, Marvin a dentist and Helen a teacher, all of which came
to be.
2. Hilja and Yrjö met soon after Hilja’s arrival to the US, in 1924. See the Laaksonen
Family Photo Album for pictures from their first date in 1924
in Bloomfield
Hills, Michigan. Hilja played
hard to get for several years, marrying Yrjö in
1928.
3. The Laaksonen children, Donald, Helen and Marvin, were all
born between the years 1933 and 1936.
4.
Naturalization; 29 Oct 1941, Detroit, Michigan. Mummi probably
had to study quite a bit for the citizenship test. Her English was never
great, and what schooling she had was in Finland, which meant that she didn't really know
much about American history.
5. The Laaksonens
retired to Lantana in 1963. Mummi was very active
in the Lantana Finnish American church and nursing home. See the Happonen Photo Album (premiering some time in 2002) to
find out more about an 'up close and
personal' newspaper article
written in 1987 in the Amerikan Uutiset
newspaper (a paper intended for the Finnish American community, located in
Lantana) about Mummi.
6. Lantana, FL. Hilja was very active and healthy until her hip was
broken in a mugging at the age of 90. That marked the beginning of a steep
decline in mental and physical functioning. Mummi
was cared for in her latter years by daughter Helen, who lived with her
husband Bob in the same Lantana house where Yrjö
and Hilja had lived in since 1963. Mummi became in her latter years practically wheelchair
bound and severely demented, and needed help in almost all aspects of life.
For the last couple of years Mummi lived in a
nursing home, until dying on June 11, 1996.
7. Hilja died on 10 Jun 1996. The Happonen Photo Album also has a scan of the hand-written eulogy Hilja's
daughter Helen gave at Hilja's funeral in Jun 1996.
Marriage Information:
Hilja married Yrjö
(George) Wilho Laaksonen,
son of Otto Wilhelm (Ottosson) Laaksonen
and Ida Elina (Riihinen) Laaksonen, on 13 Jul 1928 in Detroit, Michigan. (Yrjö (George) Wilho Laaksonen was born on 2
Nov 1896 in Helsinki Finland, died on 13 Aug 1992 in Detroit, Michigan and
was buried in Lantana, FL)
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