Mayumi Ameku

Mayumi Ameku, age 60, passed away on Friday, April 28, 2023 at her home.

Mayumi was born January 28, 1963 in Okinawa, Japan to Yshinovi and Emi Ameku. She lost her dad at the age of 10, and her mother remarried Rod Case of Michigan in 1973. Mayumi, her mother, twin sister, Masumi (deceased in 2004), 2 brothers, Yoshiharu Ameku (born 1964) and Isao Ameku (born 1967), all moved to Junction City, Kansas, thus starting her new life in America!

She graduated with a BA in Business Administration from Kansas State University. Mayumi accepted the position as the Executive Director of the Gerry County Kansas Convention and Visitors Bureau where she gained recognition for her excellence. She successfully served in that position until 2000 when she moved to Winterset, Iowa to be with her longtime boyfriend, Rich Mills. Together they started a new business, I-rule.net, which was an internet service provider. Together they steered this new company to be the 5th largest independent ISP in Iowa. She was there in the beginnings of the internet and saw the growth from dial up internet connection, website hosting and design, and the growth of high speed wireless services. The two sold the company in 2008 after Rich was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Mayumi then began working at Wells Fargo where she continued her excellence. She enjoyed all the facets of the corporate world while volunteering to be Diversity Chairman.

Mayumi was very active in the Japanese American Society of Iowa and served as their President over several years. She was comfortable working with both the extremely important and the powerless. Her husband Rich recalls the interactions she had with the Council General of Japan at the Iowa State Fair while hosting their delegation there. Mayumi introduced him to a “Corn Dog on a Stick” then watched her make suggestions how to boost alliances between Japan and Iowa as she showed off the John Deere’s 36 row planters. It is no wonder she was invited to attend so many strategic planning sessions held in Chicago. Rich tagged along, but bicycle rides were his reward for going.

Her excellence did not stop with her career. She won a Blue Ribbon at the Iowa State Fair for her knitting. Anyone who knows the excellence the Iowa State Fair demands you would understand how impressive that is for someone who was self-taught. She was also a whiz at origami.

Cycling was her chosen way to keep in such good condition. One of her favorite rides was to the Winterset City Cemetery, way back in the old part where there is a family tombstone for Clarke who was a 1945 Hall of Famer baseball player. On the stone there’s always a baseball on top of it. No one knows who keeps the baseball on top, but she was always so taken by that. This is where Mayumi and Rich will have their plot.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home, Winterset Chapel. A graveside service will follow in the Winterset Cemetery. Following services at the cemetery, folks are invited to Rich and Mayumi’s home to share in food, drinks and conversation.