Tellervo Koivisto

Taimi Tellervo Koivisto (née Kankaanranta; born 2 January 1929)[1] is a Finnish politician and the former First Lady of Finland from 1982 to 1994. Koivisto is the widow of the 9th President of Finland Mauno Koivisto and a former member of the Finnish parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party of Finland.[2]

Tellervo Koivisto
Tellervo Koivisto in 2017.
Spouse of the President of Finland
In role
27 January 1982 – 1 March 1994
PresidentMauno Koivisto
Preceded bySylvi Kekkonen
Succeeded byEeva Ahtisaari
Personal details
Born (1929-01-02) 2 January 1929
Punkalaidun, Finland
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2017)​
Alma materTurku School of Economics (1953)
OccupationBachelor of Economics

Life

Koivisto was born to a farmer's family in the Western Finnish municipality Punkalaidun, in the Satakunta region. After finishing the primary school, Koivisto went to a high school in Huittinen, where she graduated in 1949. Koivisto entered the Turku School of Economics, and met her future husband in Turku in December 1950.[3] She was married to Mauno Koivisto on 22 June 1952.[1] In 1953, Koivisto graduated from the Turku School of Economics and worked as a teacher since 1954. In 1957, she became a housewife, when her daughter Assi was born.[2] Assi was later voted into the electoral college during the 1982 presidential election.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s Koivisto was active in the feminist organization Yhdistys 9, and worked as a columnist for the news magazine Suomen Kuvalehti 1968–1972. She became a member of the Finnish parliament in the 1972 election, but withdrew from parliament after one season and ran for the City Council of Helsinki in 1976. During her husband's presidential term, Koivisto was more focused on social issues and charity work than on her ceremonial position of the First Lady.[2]

In her 1999 autobiography Koivisto wrote openly of her depression which was launched at the age of 70 by her childhood memories of school bullying.[2] On her 90th birthday, Koivisto told about the mistreatment she had experienced during her school years. She was abused by the local priest who was her religion teacher. Koivisto was spanked on her bare buttocks, and the priest made questions of her periods. Koivisto described his behaviour as "sadistic".[3] Inspired by the Me Too movement, Koivisto also told about the sexual harassment she had experienced in the Finnish parliament.[4]

On 25 December 2020, Koivisto was hospitalized after falling at her home which resulted in her breaking her hip.[5]

Honours

National honour

Foreign honours

Literary works
  • Elämän siivellä: Päiväkirjan lehtiä, Helsinki; Kirjayhtymä, 1970.
  • Päiväkirjan uudet sivut, Helsinki; Otava, 1999. ISBN 978-951-11642-6-5

References
  1. Iso-Iivari, Lasse (22 December 2013). "Kankaanranta" (in Finnish). University of Turku. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. Korppi-Tommola, Aura (23 June 2006). "Koivisto, Tellervo (1929–)" (in Finnish). National Biography of Finland. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  3. Kinnunen, Pekka (1 January 2019). "Piiskaava pastori uteli kuukautisista: Kipeä koulumuisto on Tellervo Koiviston elämän raskain kokemus" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  4. Pallaste, Tuija (1 December 2018). "Minä myös" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  5. "Rouva Tellervo Koivisto kaatui ja mursi lonkkansa - toipuu sairaalassa" (in Finnish). 26 December 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. "Pyhän Karitsan suurristi rovasti Bergmanille". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 16 November 1994. p. A 4.
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