On Saturday June 18th, neighbors gathered to dedicate the new garden beside 20 Sacramento Street in honor of Masumi Mary Nagatomi, a good friend, neighbor, and longtime supporter of Agassiz Baldwin Community who passed away in August 2010.

The ceremony took place at 11 AM with those in attendance including Mary’s three daughters Aki, Aya, and Kiyo; Terry DeLancey, Executive Director at ABC; George Hein, ABC Board Director; Andrea Walsh, ABC Board Director; and numerous neighbors gathered in celebration.

Aki Nagatomi and other speakers thanked Terry Delancey and ABC for creating the garden, as well as George Hein and Janet Burns for their help planning and planting the garden.

In addition to mainly Japanese-inspired plantings and other plants similar to those in Mary’s Wendell Street garden, the Sacramento Street garden features a commemorative stone created by David Phillips, the artist responsible for the artist pallet weathervane on top of the Maud Morgan Arts Center. Also displayed is a bird mosaic created by Gail Boyajian, another commissioned piece installed in conjunction with MMA. Both works are beautiful tributes to Mary’s elegance and eye for simplicity.

At the ceremony, neighbor Emily Romney pointed out that the ABC now has two memorial tributes for beloved neighborhood members, the Maud Morgan Arts Center and Mary Nagatomi’s Garden.

ABC extends gratitude to Mary’s daughters, as well as to the many donors who made the garden possible.

View more photos of the event on our Flickr page!