91-year-old Ulla Toivonen receives Mother’s Day honour for lifelong community work

A 91-year-old woman from Sysmä, Finland, has been awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland for her decades of motherhood and community service, reports *Yle*.

Ulla Toivonen will receive the first-class medal on Mother’s Day, an honour granted annually to exemplary mothers since 1946. The award recognises not only her role as a mother and grandmother but also her extensive volunteer work, including leading choirs and a traditional folk dance group (*tanhuryhmä*).

Toivonen remains actively engaged in daily life, tending to plants at home and researching family history. She rejects offers of assistance, insisting on independence. *”If I stay still, I’ll soon need care,”* she said.

Her community involvement spans decades. She founded a pensioners’ group still active today, where older members affectionately call her *”mother.”* *”I tell them, ‘I was trained too, so I’ll train you,’”* she joked.

Motherhood came as a surprise to Toivonen, who gave birth a year into her marriage. Raised in a large postwar family, she described her own upbringing as *”short on personal growth.”* Reflecting on her journey, she said: *”My child has taught me more than my own mother taught me.”*

As a grandmother, she has found parenting easier, noting that farm work once limited time with her daughter. To modern parents, she offers a Mother’s Day message: *”May you find strength in raising your children—and may you have many more.”*