In a rare interview with Me Naiset magazine, Vieno Virtanen talks about the loss of her mother Hanna-Riikka Siitonen.
Hanna-Riikka Siitonen in 2015. RIITTA HEISKANEN
Singer Hanna-Riikka Siitonen passed away in 2018 after a long battle with cancer. Vieno, the only child of Siitonen and his spouse Janne Virtanen, was 11 years old at the time.
Now 19-year-old Vieno has given a rare interview to Me Naiset for the magazine his grandmother Eeva-Riitta Siitonen with.
– When dad got a call from grandma that mom’s last moment at Terhokodi had come, I made the decision not to go with dad from Tampere to Helsinki. He understood me, and my important friend, actress and current piano teacher Hanna Kaila took me out to eat. It was the right solution to get the child to think about something else, says Vieno.
Vieno voluntarily carried his mother’s coffin at the funeral.
– Hanna was brought to the chapel in a coffin, and we got to be in it for a while: Janne, Vieno, Matti and me. Then Vieno wanted to be alone for a while. I remember that moment lasted seventeen minutes, says Eeva-Riitta.
Vieno says in the interview that he does not feel that his life is unfair. However, sometimes Mother’s Days seem difficult to her.
Matti “Fredi” Siitonen passed away three years after his daughter Hanna-Riika.
Hanna-Riikka Siitonen was diagnosed with thyroid cancer already in 2000. The disease had many difficult stages, but at times Siitonen could also enjoy life without symptoms. Hanna-Rikka spent her last weeks in Terhokodi and passed away in the middle of July 2018.
Hanna-Riikka Siitonen is remembered as a Finnish singer and actress. He was involved in the 1990s as another member of the band Taikapeili. He later starred in Yle’s series New Day music teacher Lissua.