Ernie Ando Obituary

Ernie Ando
Mar. 21, 1935 - Dec. 24, 2018
Resident of San Jose
Ernie Ando passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 24th surrounded by his wife, Emily, son, Chris, daughter-in-law, Katie, his remaining siblings, and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was born in San Jose, one of nine children to Yoshio and Muraye Ando. Ernie spent all of his life here except for the relocation years and his 5 years of service in the Army. Upon his return to San Jose he decided to resume his education and earned his teaching credentials and a Master's Degree. He then taught Industrial Education at San Leandro High School and Oak Grove High School. He enjoyed woodworking, gardening, and golfing with his friends.
His greatest joy was to see and play with his grandchildren, Mckenna, Ainsley, and the twins, Anniston and Jackson. Ernie and Emily were able to celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. He was always involved with Emily's activities and projects. He will be missed by all. Ernie is also survived by 3 siblings: Ruby Kuritsubo, Lloyd (Elaine) Ando, and Lillian (Jim) Junker, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. He is predeceased by his parents and older siblings: Marietta Tokunaga, Noboru Ando, Eddie Ando, Mary Minabe, and Albert Ando. Private services have been held.

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Published by San Jose Mercury News/San Mateo County Times on Jan. 9, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for Ernie Ando

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5 Entries

Steven Jarzombek

January 30, 2024

I have often thought about Mr. Ando. He was my teacher in 1984-1985. I always thought of him as a favorite. So sad to find out that he passed. I will always remember him fondly and will always smile when I think of him. I remember when I turned 18, I told him I was an adult. He just looked and me and said yes, you are a dolt. Then made me look it up in a dictionary! He was a funny guy!

Arnold Aparicio

November 3, 2021

To the family of Mr Ando,
please accept these belated condolences. i dont know what made me think of Mr Ando, i decided to look him up only to learn of this sad news.
Mr Ando was and will be some of the best memories for me from high school. In his architecture class, always using his red pen and writing on my drawings, saying to me to push myself harder.
i regret that i was not able to reconnect with him and let him know im a father of 7 girls. they ask me about drawing and i always have stories to share, mostly of my time at Oak Grove and Mr Andos architecture classes.
i hope you his family know he was great teacher and and always made time for his students. i know im not the only student he had a positive influence on.
my thoughts of those years under his mentorship always bring a smile.
he will be missed.
Arnold Aparicio
Oak Grove '91

Vince Santos

July 19, 2021

To the family of Mr. Ando. Please accept this belated showing of condolences. He was among the top three high school teachers whom I greatly admired as a student and have never firgotten. He also taught at Marina High school in San Leandro, class of 1967. I wish I knew then what I know about the world now because Mr Ando in so many ways was the true sensei that I needed . And I had so much to learn. In drafting class, one of his admonitions was "always keep your pencils sharp" in the literal sense, but in so many ways I have kept that as a metaphor throughout my life. To this day I keep a drawer full of sharp pencils, just in case...I don´t know what compelled me to look up Ernie Ando in DuckDuckGo go after 54 years, but the obit from Legacy was the first hit. So perhaps I just needed to say, so long Mr. Ando....vince santos class of `67, Marina high school.

Matt Guertner

January 21, 2019

I'm deeply saddened to hear of Mr. Ando's passing. For over twenty years I've wanted to get in touch with him to let him know how much of an impact he had on me and thank him for all his mentoring.

Mr. Ando's graphic arts class at OGHS was the first high school classroom I ever walked into. His classes were the only ones I looked forward to attending and I enthusiastically took every class he offered over the course of my high school career.

As I write this, so many memories are flooding back: Who could forget his abnormally strong handshakes that could get you to comply with his wishes? Who could forget his love of coffee? Who could forget the fact that he told us students he was 80 years old (and we believed him!)

As I got to know Mr. Ando he told me that the school sends all the boneheads to my classes. I was one of only a handful of students who wanted to be in his classes and I feel as if Mr. Ando recognized that and put in more effort with me. He frequently let me come in after school to work on pet projects and sometimes him and I would burn the midnight oil trying to figure out a solution to a particular graphic arts problem I'd be having (I can remember one pressing problem where we sat at the light tables after school with X-acto knives and rolls of rubylith film trying to get something to work.)

When I took his architectural drawing course I wanted to enter a drawing in the county fair the following summer. I'll always remember him commenting that a student hasn't wanted to enter a drawing into the county fair in years. With his help, I ended up winning first prize for that drawing.

It took years of hindsight to realize just how above and beyond Mr. Ando went to help guide me. As a teenager it seemed like he was doing his job and now I realize that teachers don't normally devote so much free time to helping a single student.

I'd say that Mr. Ando was open with students but he always had his teacher armor on. There are only two occasions I got to peek behind that armor. One day I found a young kitten at school and didn't know what to do. I remembered that Mr. Ando had no more classes for the day so I took the kitten to his classroom and begged him to keep the kitten until I could pick it up after school. He agreed. After school I walked into his classroom to pick up the kitten and as I approached his office I could see the kitten on his desk and him playing with it with the eraser side of a pencil. I ended up naming the kitten Ando after him.

The other time I got to peek behind his armor I was at the mall with a friend. We were sitting on a bench and I saw Mr. Ando walking arm in arm with his wife. I ran up to him and said hello. We had a very brief conversation before he moved along. I will always remember that during the entire encounter him and his wife never unlocked arms. I watched them walk away into the crowd thinking to myself that they seemed so happy.

My deepest condolences to the Ando family. Please know that the memories I have of him and his mentorship are something I will carry with me my entire life.

John Torres Jr

January 10, 2019

My Condolences to the entire Ando family. Ernie was a friend, colleague and especially a mentor. We worked together as Industrial Arts teachers many years ago. He was a patient and caring man, giving me guidance and listening to my questions as only a true mentor can. He will be surely missed by all. Love, John Torres Jr.

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