Tan Ton was a CNMI pioneer: the first person of NMI descent to travel to the United States; the first to receive a college education, graduating from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1954; and the first indigenous civil engineer. During his funeral Mass yesterday at Mt. Carmel Cathedral, some of the most prominent people of the community gathered to honor one of the commonwealth’s most outstanding citizens.
Tan Ton was a fervent lifelong advocate of the value of education within his family and group of friends. He believed that his personal opportunity gave him a responsibility to his community. As a result, he was an early and active member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, was involved in church projects, and even coached players and umpired tennis games for the 1969 Micro Games.
Tan Ton loved plants and spent many hours in his personal garden trying to discover what would and wouldn’t thrive in the Marianas. Both because of his profession and the obvious community need, he was fascinated with affordable ways to build durable residences in the islands’ climate.
My friend, his daughter Brenda, remembers that, “He prized character over wealth, and diligence and commitment over brilliance.”
Born in 1926 on Saipan, Tan Ton was one of the few locals able to attend the Japanese trade school in Palau where he spent three years, returning home just before the U.S. invasion in 1944. He subsequently served as a scout for the U.S. Marines, providing Japanese translation services.
By 1947 he was working for the U.S. naval administration on Saipan as a draftsman, and studying English and engineering at night, according to Navy Capt. Clinton Sigel. Sigel was so impressed with his performance and potential that he helped Tan Ton gain access to the U.S. — when such travel was still very complicated — and the opportunity to obtain a college education.
While attending Marquette, he met his future wife, Janet Sakihara of Hawaii, and they got married in 1955. Mrs. Tenorio, who died in 2001, was one of Saipan’s first-rate educators.
After graduating from college, Tan Ton moved to Guam. There he worked on a variety of construction projects for government agencies and private contractors for the next seven years. These included a major sewer system at Andersen Air Force Base and a taxiway at the same facility. He was also the person in charge of the construction of the then new hospital on Saipan, what is now Northern Marianas College.
In 1962, he returned to Saipan to serve as general engineer with the government of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. He played a key role in the design and construction of over 500 emergency houses on Saipan and Tinian after Typhoon Jean in 1968, and some of them are still in use today.
He then served as administrator of the Mariana Islands Housing Authority — now the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. — before becoming head of Public Works for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
From 1978 to 1982, Tan Ton served as the president/general manager of J.C. Tenorio Construction before leaving the company to become the project manager, from 1982 to 1986, of the $30 million Commonwealth Health Center.
With the completion of this major project, he retired, although he did some consulting. But his main focus from then on was his family and friends while also paying attention to his garden, sports events, especially Sumo and football, travel, his pets, reading and painting, until his health slowly limited his mobility.
He must have been particularly proud of his three daughters, Brenda, Lynette and Evelyn, who, like him, have excelled in their careers while giving back to the community.
Tan Ton was a good man who valued basic decency and fellowship above all. “Tony was an ethical man,” one of his friends said.
He is terribly missed.
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