Tiffany Moisan '90
June 8, 2016 1:37 PM
updated: June 8, 2016 1:44 PM
Holloway Funeral Home - Salisbury obituary
501 Snow Hill Road
Salisbury, Maryland
UNITED STATES
21804
Tiffany
Moisan
1968 - 2016
Tiffany Moisan, 48, of Princess Anne, MD, died on Sunday, June 5, 2016. Born in Taiwan on June 1, 1968, Tiffany began her eventful life with the sad loss of her mother, who died during childbirth. She was later adopted by an American couple who were stationed
with the U.S. Navy in Taiwan. She moved to the U.S., growing up mainly in Louisiana, where she learned how to eat crawfish and perfected her ‘y’all’, but also in Virginia and a time in Italy as her father traveled about as an officer in the U.S. Navy.
She attended college at Texas A&M University. While there, she worked as a research assistant and traveled to Antarctica to do research on marine phytoplankton. It was in Texas that she was introduced to her future husband, whom she learned had asked her Korean
friend if she was a ‘good girl’. She graduated from Texas A&M in the summer of 1990 with a degree in Biology with honors, and married John later that summer in Maine. That fall she began her graduate work in Marine Biology at Old Dominion University, where
she earned a Master’s Degree in Oceanography and participated in her second research expedition to Antarctica, and was given the U.S. Antarctic Service Medal from the U.S. Dept. of the Navy and The National Science Foundation. In 1993 she and John moved to
San Diego, CA where she earned her Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography for her work on Antarctic Phytoplankton. Upon graduation in 1999, she was offered and accepted a position as an Oceanographer
for the National Atmospheric and Space Administration (NASA). Her research focused on being able to identify various forms of phytoplankton using instruments flown in space or on aircraft. She was also very much involved in educational outreach and enjoyed
developing methods to bring science to younger students. Her recent efforts were focused on developing a project that would have created a “Citizen Scientist” network in the Chesapeake Bay to monitor harmful algal blooms.
Tiffany was an avid global explorer, and in the early years of their marriage had traveled and explored widely; she had traveled to six different continents. Her past experiences were broad, and included experiences such as swimming one night off the Scripps
pier in the midst of a sea filled with glowing phosphorescent algae, to hiking in the Sierras to winter camp on snow fields that were pink with algae, to hiking the Dry Valleys in Antarctica, to exploring various wild and exotic places such as a tropical reef
off the coast of Malaysia. She was also inducted into the Lake Vanda, Antarctica Swim Club, during her second expedition to the Antarctic.
In 2003, she began her most ambitious effort and adopted her first daughter, Katherine Lin, from China. In 2007, she, John and Katie traveled to China to adopt a second daughter, Alyssa An. There was no greater human experience that she ever had than in her
being a mother to these girls. Together with John and the girls, she lived in her modest bungalow on the eastern shore of MD, enjoying life’s precious moments. It was during this time that she began teaching her daughters to experience all that life has to
offer by taking then 10 year old Katie and 7 year old Alyssa snorkeling one dark night off the coast of Kona, Hawaii to swim with Manta Rays.
Her beauty and love and care about others was infectious. Her family grew ever larger with time, first when she was married and took on the love from being part of a very large French-Canadian family from Maine, to later having two beautiful daughters to share
life with, to even later after the passing of her mother when she was able to re-connect with her biological relatives from Taiwan and discovered many now lived in California. Tiffany loved and is loved by many. She will be forever missed, always loved and
never forgotten.
She is survived by her husband, John R. Moisan; two daughters, Katherine Lin Moisan, 12, and Alyssa An Moisan, 9, all of Princess Anne, MD; her father, Rodney “Butch” Ashworth of Prairieville, LA and sister Trina Ashworth Daniel and husband Paul and their children,
Elijah, Andrew and Kayla Daniel. She was fortunate enough to connect later in life with her biological family and is also survived by two brothers; a sister and several nephews.
A funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, June 11, 2016 at Asbury United Methodist Church Salisbury. A visitation will be held from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM on Friday, June 10, 2016 at Holloway Funeral Home, Salisbury.
In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations be sent to: Hopkins Lupus Research Center, 1830 East Monument St., Suite 7500, Baltimore, MD 21205.
Arrangements are in the care of Holloway Funeral Home, P.A., 501 Snow Hill Road, Salisbury, MD 21804. To send condolences to the family, please visit www.hollowayfh.com.
Visitation
When Friday, June 10th, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
LocationHolloway Funeral Home
Address 501 Snow Hill Road
Salisbury, MD
21804
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Service Information
When Saturday, June 11th, 2016, 2:00pm
LocationAsbury United Methodist Church- Salisbury
Address 1401 Camden Ave.
Salisbury, MD
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