Ayako Nakada

Ayako Y. Nakada
January 13, 1925-March 16, 2014

Ayako Y. Nakada lived a full, joyful life. Born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Shunski Yoshioka, Ayako met Frank Nakada while working at the Consulate as a translator in New York City. A graduate of Skidmore College, she and Frank would marry in 1959 and reside in Forest Hills, New York. In 1962 she gave birth to their only son, Stephen Y. Nakada. Her primary role for the next 18 years was raising Stephen, currently a successful physician residing in Madison Wisconsin.

Once Stephen went off to college in 1980, Ayako would focus on her job, working as an Asian Art Consultant at the library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This was her dream job. She would stay at the Metropolitan until the 1990s and join Frank in retirement until 2010, when she and Frank moved to Madison to be closer the Stephen's family.

Ayako lit up every room she entered, and was always the best part of any social circle. Her positive attitude and charming personality was ahead of her time, and she had many devoted friends who counted on her. She of course loved fine art, particularly Van Gogh, and she had an eye for the great painters of the Impressionist era. Ayako loved photography, and literally took thousands of photos over the years, of friends, family, landscapes, flowers, and chronicled the Nakada family travels over the decades. Hours in careful preparation, these books are beautiful archives of her life.

Ayako spent her life supporting Frank and Stephen in all their endeavors, as it is the kind of giving person she was. As her health failed, Frank and Stephen had to take care of her in her later years. This was a fitting and important opportunity to repay Ayako for her devotion and love. There were few better people than Ayako, and she will be missed. She was pre-deceased by her parents and husband, Frank, and she is survived by her son Stephen, daughter in law Deanna and her granddaughter, Sarah.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Agrace Hospice, in Fitchburg.