Kaarlo Immonen, A Quiet Pillar of the Community

Earthmoving entrepreneur Kaarlo Immonen died in Varpaisjärvi in April 2026 at the age of 66. Immonen, who had lived on the same farm since childhood after being adopted into a smallholder family, was a solitary figure. His death went unnoticed for a couple of weeks as he lived alone and typically traveled abroad in the spring.

Immonen learned all the essential farm tasks from his adoptive parents and later pursued a career as a machine mechanic in Kuopio. He became a versatile independent professional, skilled in forestry, excavators, and earthmoving, taking on contracts from both public and private sectors locally and further afield.

He was a meticulous entrepreneur, known for the quality of his work and punctuality. Immonen was a teetotaler, always ready to work in any weather or time of day. His life was intertwined with agriculture and forestry, with work continuing in his own forests and cattle raised on the Selkäharju farm into the 21st century.

Immonen shared a tradition of attending the opening of the duck hunting season with his neighbor Keijo for fifty consecutive years. He was a man of few words about his personal affairs and did not interfere in others' business. He remained a bachelor, enjoyed driving quality cars, and traveled annually within Europe. He described his solo travels simply, stating that "they don't send one person to fly; there were others on the plane." Immonen is remembered by his neighbors as one of the "quiet ones of the earth," who made himself important and necessary to those around him through his presence and work.