Ayako Mitsui - Rafu Shimpo

Ayako Mitsui
April 10, 1920 – January 28, 2021

Aya Mitsui, 100-year-old resident of Los Angeles, passed away January 28, 2021 in Tarzana, Calif. She was the last remaining descendent of the 9 children of Kiichiro and Hatsu Muto of San Fernando. The Muto family, commercial flower growers, founded the Los Angeles Flower Market in 1913. Her goal of becoming a fashion designer was interrupted in 1942 by relocation to Manzanar where Aya demonstrated she was adept as a tailor and seamstress. She married Pete Mitsui also of San Fernando, in a civil ceremony at Manzanar Relocation Camp in 1944.

Relocating after internment, the couple moved first to San Fernando, then South Gate, where Pete was co-owner of Uneeda Garden Nursery with his brother-in-law. They became parents of Patti, Peggy and Brian Mitsui before moving to the Crenshaw area in the mid-‘50s where Aya became an elemental part of the burgeoning Japanese community around Crenshaw Square.

Aya was predeceased by daughter Peggy Mitsui in 1978, and husband Pete in 2011. She is survived by Patti Mitsui and husband, Geoff Westen of Westlake Village, Calif., Brian and Joanne Mitsui, of Carlsbad, Calif., and their sons (Aya’s grandsons), Joey Mitsui, and Cory Mitsui with wife Kimberly and great-granddaughter Emily.

Aya will be interred at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.