Ayako Yoneoka Hill passed away of natural causes at the age of 93 in Los Angeles on July 14. Born Dec. 15, 1914 in Kumamoto, Japan, she was the daughter of Torashiro and Umeka Yoneoka. Married to Archie Russell Hill during the Occupation in Japan and the proud mother of a young son, John, she moved to the U.S. in 1952. She settled in Deadwood, South Dakota, where her daughter, Amy, was born. In 1960, she moved with her husband and two children to Seattle, where she added another daughter to the mix, Mary.

While in Seattle, she enjoyed entertaining at her children’s school events or at church talent shows by juggling raw eggs or oranges, or making huge sukiyaki dinners for her husband’s VFW post, or baking loaves of Finnish farmer bread for her friends and neighbors. She loved to socialize, sharing funny and colorful stories from her past, and was generous to a fault. Before the family moved to Stanwood, Wash., in 1972, she worked as head cook at the Group Health Hospital kitchen, adding teriyaki chicken and tempura to the menu.

After her husband’s abrupt passing from an automobile accident in 1979, she returned to Seattle and reinvented herself as a landlady, buying a house in Seattle’s university district and renting out rooms to students. She soon became a surrogate mom to many and became a huge Huskies fan. In 1985, at the age of 71, she moved to San Francisco to be closer to her daughters. There she again found new friends and became a fixture in Japantown.

In failing health and to be closer to all her children and her new granddaughter, Penelope, she made yet another move — to Los Angeles in 2002. Besides cooking, she was an expert seamstress and could knit a sweater in a day. She also enjoyed gardening and reading the classics in Japanese.

She is survived by her children, John, Amy and Mary, and her granddaughter, Penelope, as well as a son and daughter in Japan from a previous marriage.

The immediate family plans a private ceremony at sea sometime in September. Donations may be sent (and made payable) to Keiro Nursing Home, 2221 Lincoln Park Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90031-2920, Attn: Marie/donations.