Oldest Living Icelander Turns 109

Dóra Ólafsdóttir celebrated her birthday by going to a café, …

Dóra Ólafsdóttir celebrated her birthday by going to a café, where this picture was taken. Photo/Laufey Dóra

Vala Hafstað

Dóra Ólafsdóttir, the oldest living Icelander, turned 109 yesterday, July 6, Morgunblaðið reports. For the past eight and a half years, she has been living at Skjól nursing home in Reykjavík, where her relatives and descendants gathered last Sunday.

Dóra is in good health, given her age: able to walk around with the support of a walker; she keeps up with the news and reads Morgunblaðið every day.

To celebrate her birthday yesterday, she went to Dalurinn café in Laugardalur, Reykjavík, along with her family.

Dóra grew up on the farm Sigtún in Eyjafjörður fjord, North Iceland, and lived in Akureyri for a long time, where she worked for the National Telephone Company. She moved to Reykjavík in 2000.

She is the fifth Icelander to have reached the age of 109. All five have been women. In addition, she is one of the oldest residents of the Nordic countries.

“I never expected to grow this old,” she told Morgunblaðið two years ago. “I have led a healthy life, without alcohol or tobacco. As long as I’m able to read and walk, I have no reason to complain. Admittedly, I always need the walker for walking, but I walk [to the dining room] to have dinner and coffee, and there is always something to keep me busy. I’m never bored.”

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