Mariko (Mukai) Ando

Born in Seattle, Washington in 1919 to Japanese immigrant parents Seizaburo and Sawayo Mukai,  Mariko, the first born of five children, was the first American citizen in her family. As a young girl, she and her siblings, Frank, George, Lily, and Henry, helped to run their father’s movie theaters and the family bait and tackle shop located in Seattle’s “Chinatown”. Beautiful, intelligent, and a talented vocalist from an early age, Mariko performed her first concert at just 10 years old. She graduated salutatorian from Garfield High School in 1937 and went on to study music at the University of Washington. In 1938, Mariko became the first and only Nisei (second-generation Japanese-American) to sing in a grand opera in Seattle as Abigail in The Queen of Sheba. At University of Washington she performed as Susanna in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Seville (1940). In 1941, she was awarded a four-year scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York and moved across country to pursue her career. She relocated to the East Coast just months before Pearl Harbor; after the national tragedy, she faced housing discrimination and experienced harsh racism in the city. Back home in Seattle, her father was arrested under suspicion of being a Japanese loyalist, and her family hastily sold what property they could before ‘voluntarily’ relocating to Moses Lake, avoiding internment but subjugated to farm labor for the duration of the war. From New York, Mariko advocated tirelessly for her father’s release from a detention center by letter and telegram, all the while supporting herself and working to achieve her American dream in a challenging political climate. Despite the difficulty of her circumstances, she bore out one success after another, receiving great critical acclaim and performing solo concerts to crowds of over 1,400 people in such venues as New York’s Town Hall and Little Carnegie Hall. Her radio debut came in 1946 with vocals in P.A. Young’s “Nine September” with Canada Lee and Gene Kelly. In 1947, a New York Times review extolled her “exceptional charm, skill and intelligence” as both a lyric and coloratura soprano, and the “graceful ease” with which she moved from one operatic style to another.

Indeed, Mariko appeared to navigate the challenges and transitions of life with graceful ease. In September 1947, she married Tomomi Ando, a young Texan Japanese-American military officer. Soon after, Tomomi was stationed on an American military base in Japan, and a year later Mariko was able to join him. While there, the two started their family, with the births of their daughter Donna, son Robert and daughter Roxanne.

The family relocated to Colorado in 1954 and Mariko continued her career there, performing in Denver’s Tabor Grand Opera House as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In 1955, Mariko sang for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower; in correspondence sent to Mariko, the President noted that he “thoroughly” enjoyed the event. Shortly thereafter, Tomomi and Mariko’s youngest daughter, Vera, was born, thus completing their family. In a time when it was much harder--if not unheard of--Mariko excelled at balancing her personal life, as a loving wife and mother, and her professional career. The family relocated several more times, following Tomomi’s deployments: returning to Okinawa, then to Baltimore, Fort Myer, and finally Alexandria, Virginia in 1963. Ever frugal, through scrimping and saving, Tomomi and Mariko were able to send all four of their children to college. Later in life, Mariko continued to bring joy to others through music, serving as director of the Fort Myer South Post Chapel Choir, and as a soloist at the Fort Myer Old Post and Memorial Chapel, where she was beloved not only for her vocal talents but for her warm and endearing presence, her easy laughter, and her joyful spirits. In 1989, Mariko was predeceased by her beloved husband of 42 years.

When asked about her greatest accomplishments, Mariko would likely not lead with any of the above, but would tell you about the successes of her 4 children and 6 grandchildren. She was modest culturally and by personality, but more than that, seemed to believe that a life well lived, through joys and pains, is its own reward. She will be dearly missed by her friends and family, but remembered often, for her tenacity, poise, talent, eloquence, and indefatigable spirit.

She will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, beside her beloved husband.