In Memory
Betty Tono (Usui) - Class Of 1951
Betty (Tono) Usui. Loving father of Eriko Eleanor. Son of Kuni Usui of Japan. Brother of Chikae Hasegawa of Japan. Mr. Usui was a retired Oakland University Art Curator. Memorial service Saturday, June 30, 2001, 2 p.m. at the Potere-Modetz Funeral Home, 339 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. The family will receive friends 1 p.m. until time of service. Suggested memorials to Betty & Kiichi Usui Endowed Scholarship Fund, c/o Meadowbrook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI 48309.
2001
Ray Guim (1974)
Bensalem Township High School
Chiyeko “Betty” Tono ‘51
Alumni Scholarship Award
Betty Tono Usui was born the seventh child of Matsuhei and Shiteyo Tono on April 16, 1933 in Irvington, California. As a young girl, she faced great difficulty in her life; being of Japanese descent--although an American citizen—she was sent to the infamous interment camp in Wyoming. She spent from 1942 to 1944 there with her family.
After the war, the Tono family moved to a farm outside of Philadelphia and Betty attended Bensalem Township High School. Upon graduation, she moved to New York and studied at Packard Junior College, completing an executive secretarial course.
While working in New York, she met her husband; they were married on March 17, 1965. After the birth of their daughter, they moved to Rochester, Michigan where her husband taught studio art courses at Oakland University. When her husband needed to complete his Master’s Degree in Art History at the University of Michigan, the family moved to Ann Arbor; Betty worked to help him achieve his advanced degree. When their daughter reached college age, Betty provided the support necessary for her to complete degrees in Social Work and Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.
After raising their daughter, Betty rejoined the work force at Auburn Hill, MI as a secretary in the Department of Quality Network. While working, she decided to continue her own education and earned an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts at Oakland Community College. She continued studying at Oakland University where she received a Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement and Excellence and was awarded membership in the Golden Key National Honor Society.
Cancer kept Betty from completing the requirements for a Bachelor Degree in English; she passed away on March 13, 1999. A person who always realized the importance of education, in her Living Trust Betty specified that a contribution be made to the Bensalem Alumni Association Scholarship Fund We thank Betty and her family for a generous donation of $2,000.