Donor Feature Blessed to Be a Blessing
M
s. Esther Ando is the youngest of eight children born to Japanese immigrants who came to the United States in the early 1900s. Her family believes Baptist missionaries were instrumental in helping them come to America. Ando’s mother, Nami Uno Ando, became very involved with a Baptist Women’s Group while living in Almeda, Texas. Kumahachi Ando and Nami Uno Ando initially came to the United States to escape turmoil in Japan and seek a better life. They planned to save enough money to return to Japan one day. However, they became engrained into American society, established strong roots in the Almeda community, and Texas became home. Ando was born in Hitchcock, Texas, in 1924. God blessed her with good parents, she explained, recalling fond memories of her one sister, Irene, and six older brothers growing up together. Looking back, she realizes her family protected her from the turbulence swirling around Japanese Americans in World War II. When the war began Ando had just graduated from high school. She remembers how frightened she was when the FBI and other officials came to their farm in Almeda in 1942 to interrogate her parents. Ando’s father was taken outside for questioning, but one of the agents sensed her fright and told her not to worry. The entire Ando family considered themselves Americans first, Japanese second, so it was difficult for them to understand the animosity from other Americans. Seven of the eight children were born in America. Ando never visited Japan,
but her mother was very traditional and stressed the importance of honoring family and building a strong legacy. Three of her brothers served in the United States military, and her oldest and youngest brothers attended Texas A&M University. Although the youngest son was an American, he lost his commission but was then drafted into the military service where he gladly served throughout his entire career. He even worked at a high level at the Central Intelligence Agency until his retirement.
Esther Ando never imagined how God would bring her to ETBU. Now she has decided to bless others.
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Hilltop
Summer 2016
Ando’s mother raised all of her children in the Baptist church. The church, along with her sister, encouraged Ando to attend the College of Marshall as a place where she would find fellowship with other Christians and be protected from the growing hostility against people of Japanese heritage. Ando enrolled in 1942 shortly after World War II began.