Mary Kawakami

BIOGRAPHY

Kawakami was born in Fort Lupton, Colorado, on 12 December 1912, to Kenshiro Waki (1882–1935) and Shizuko Furukawa (1892–1924). Her parents were Japanese immigrants. She was the eldest of four children and the first American citizen in her family. Her younger siblings were Teruji, George, and Smiley. Tragically, Teruji passed away when Mary was just 6, and she lost her mother at the age of 11. Despite her young age, Mary did her best to take on a motherly role for her siblings, even attempting to cook a carp she had caught for a family meal. Her father later remarried Kazuno Kawahara (1896–1971), and Mary gained seven more siblings: Sam, Mitsuo (Choke), Utao, Yomi, Wilma, Betty Jean, and Kemie. The family moved to Helper, Utah, where Mary eventually met and married her husband.

On 29 November 1935, at the age of 22, she married Charles Shigeyoshi Kawakami (1903–2004). She worked as a hairdresser in Helper, while her husband labored in the coal mines of Spring Canyon. In 1943, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, city officials in Helper ordered all individuals of Japanese heritage to leave the area within 48 hours. In the years that followed, the Kawakami family became the subject of an FBI investigation, with several agents visiting their home in search of contraband. After living for several years in Spring Canyon, Utah, the couple moved to American Fork, where they raised two sons and two daughters. In the city, they purchased seven acres of land with Liberty Bonds they had acquired earlier in their marriage. They built a chicken coop on their property, using one half to raise chickens while Mary set up her hair salon in the other half.

A talented hairstylist, she was inspired to open Mary Kawakami’s College of Beauty, a successful cosmetology school in Provo. She traveled throughout the United States and Japan, teaching and demonstrating various hairstyling techniques while earning awards for her innovative styles. Additionally, she authored several books on the subject. In 1954, she was honored in Hollywood as “One of the World’s Ten Best Hair Stylists.”

As a young mother, she taught a citizenship class for first-generation Japanese Americans after the McCarran-Walter Act provided them a pathway to citizenship. Her husband and father-in-law were among her students. In 1976, she served on the Bicentennial Commission Committee for the city of Provo and traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet President Gerald Ford. After retiring, she joined the American Fork Arts Council and established a speech contest for high school students, awarding scholarships to the top participants. She took her civic duties seriously, voting throughout her life, which led Governor Gary Herbert to present her with a plaque recognizing her as Utah’s oldest voter in 2016. In her later years, she became a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She attended the temple for the first time at the age of 103 in 2016.

When asked about the secret to her longevity, she credited it to eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. She mentioned that a typical breakfast for her consisted of blueberries or strawberries alongside a Japanese omelet. She also had a fondness for oranges, watermelon, and orchids.

Mary Kawakami passed away in American Fork, Utah, USA, on 31 May 2023, at the age of 110 years, 170 days. She was survived by five granddaughters, and 12 great-grandchildren.