Serene Elinor (Tonning) Moseson

June 14, 1922 – November 6, 2018

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Serene (“Toni”) Moseson died peacefully at Aegis Lodge of Kirkland on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at age 96.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Serene was the daughter of two college professors. Her father and all her grandparents immigrated from Norway. She grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and spent many summers with her Aunt Serene in Houston, Minnesota.
She attended Augustana College, majoring in English. During her freshman year she met her future husband, Merland Moseson. They married on March 24, 1943. They soon moved to Ohio, where Merland started work as an engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. They lived in Rocky River, near Cleveland, and later moved to Berea, Ohio. Serene stayed home to raise her four children and was also active in church and school related activities.
Merland’s career changed when NACA became NASA. That prompted the family’s move to Severna Park, Maryland, in 1960. By that time all the children had started school, so the following September, Serene started her career as a teacher. She taught third grade at Millersville Elementary School. Later she taught seventh-graders and then high school English at Arundel High School.
After retiring, Serene and Merland moved to Port Ludlow, where they built a home overlooking Puget Sound. They both truly loved the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Serene and her husband were boating enthusiasts. They explored Lake Erie, the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound first in a small power boat and later in their sailboat. Serene also loved hiking, reading and travel. She hiked the Olympic Peninsula with a Port Ludlow hiking group and took several hiking trips to Europe with some close friends. Merland passed away in 2004 after a 61-year marriage, and Serene eventually relocated near her daughter in Kirkland.
Serene was smart, lively, a dedicated teacher, a good friend and a loving wife, mother and grandmother.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Ole and Elinor Tonning; her sister, Agnes Nelson; her husband, Merland; and her daughter, Diana Brown. Survivors include sons Dane (Bertha) Moseson, Eric Moseson, daughter Kristi (Louis) Pagano, grandchildren Scott, Mark, Jeff, Kim, Erika, Heidi, Greta, Kyle and Alise, and eight great-grandchildren.