Mary Usui Toma

Mary Toyoko Usui Toma passed away on July 21st at the age of 91.

Mary lived an active life as an Angeleno for more than 60 years. She will be fondly remembered as a beloved wife, mother, PTA leader, grandmother, sister, and friend. She loved music and the arts, and was a singer, church choir member, a longtime presence at the L.A. City Cultural Arts Center in Los Feliz, and a Dodger fan.

She was born in Tacoma, Washington in June 1928, seventh of nine children of mother Kiyono (nee Shimizu) and father Otojiro Usui of Gifu, Japan. Her life as a teenager in a rural Oregon farming community was dramatically changed by Executive Order 9066, the unjust wartime imprisonment of her entire family and over 110,000 other Japanese Americans in 1942. On the basis of their Japanese ancestry alone, she and her entire family were held in animal stables, then at the U.S. government's 'internment' camps at Tule Lake (California) and Minidoka (Idaho).

Mary was eventually able to leave the prison camps through a scholarship to the University of Dubuque (Iowa) where she earned a bachelor's degree. After the war, her family was released from the government prison camps and relocated to Salt Lake City. There, Mary met Ronald Toma and, sharing a love for ballroom dancing, they got married in July 1950.

Years later, they moved to Los Angeles, and started a family. Mary began working as a medical technologist at the lab in Kaiser Permanente, then Children's Hospital L.A. where she worked for decades. Ron and Mary raised their 5 children and 8 grandchildren in L.A.'s Silver Lake area, where they attended Micheltorena Elementary, King Junior High, and Marshall High schools. They joined Centenary United Methodist Church, where she often sang in the choir, the children were active in church clubs, and the family joined the Crenshaw YMCA.

Mary loved dance, music, singing and the arts, and put her energies into her children's development in piano, ballet/modern/tap dance, and theater arts. She volunteered for the PTA/PTSA throughout her life, serving as President at the schools her children attended and the regional Tenth District. With her smile, grace, soft-spoken strength and determination, she tirelessly gave her children and other children the opportunities she didn't have growing up.

After retiring, she re-ignited her passion of her younger years for softball, and became a hardcore Dodger fan. She also traveled to many places in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America to visit and take trips with her children when they were living, studying or working abroad.

Mary was honored by the L.A. City Council as a Woman Pioneer of the Year, and by the University of Dubuque as Alumni of the Year, among other awards she received in her lifetime.

Mary's active life was slowed in 2009 by a stroke, followed by other health crises. She first lost her ability to speak and write, then to eat or swallow, walk, read or write. But she could still understand, and she communicated with a nod, smile, frown, expressive eyes, a nod or shake of her head, or her actions. She received care and kindness from many staff at Country Villa and then Kei Ai (formerly Keiro) L.A. Healthcare Center.

In September 2014, Mary suffered the loss of her loving husband of over 64 years, Ronald Shigeo Toma,

Mourning her passing but grateful for having had her in our lives are her children Dana (and Debbie) Toma, April Toma, Robin Toma (and Debra Suh), Heather (and BC) Carr and Heidi (and Paul) Schmiedeke; Mary's grandchildren Graham Toma, Alec and Kylie Schmiedeke, Nina and Julian Suh-Toma; Isabelle, William, and Eric; Mary's surviving siblings Frank (and Susie) Usui, Teruko 'Terry' (and Roy) Nakawatase, James (and Nancy) Usui, and Mary's many dear in-laws, nieces and nephews, extended Usui and Toma family and friends. Preceding Mary's death were her dear older siblings Yoshio (and wife Fumiko) Usui, Yoneko (and Frank) Aoki, and Roy (and surviving spouse Aiko) Usui.

A memorial service/celebration of life will be held on Friday, August 9th, at 11 a.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 300 S. Central Ave., in Little Tokyo, L.A. (centenarydtla@gmail.com; 213-617-9097). She will be buried at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills on Saturday, August 10th, at 9:30 a.m.

Donations may be made in Mary Toma's memory to Los Angeles Tenth District PTSA - go to their FaceBook page.
Donations of flowers may be delivered to Centenary United Methodist Church by 10:30 a.m. on Friday, August 9th.

For more information, contact 800-204-3131 or Heidi Schmiedeke at htomaschmed@gmail.com.