Huong-Mai Aurelie Tran

Huong-Mai was born on November 23, 1940 to Tran Van Lam and Truong Thi Bay in Saigon, Vietnam. She was the oldest of 9 siblings and loved her family dearly. She also loved to learn and excelled in all academic ventures. Her parents sent her to Chicago in 1956 to finish high school and earn her BA at St. Xavier College, after which she moved on to Georgetown University and Australian National University, Canberra, where she earned a PhD in linguistics.

She was a gifted piano player and an avid concert-goer. Heads turned when she walked into the room, but her warm, genuine, curious, loving, and caring nature, her keen mind, and her impeccable style is how she brought joy and light to others. She made friends everywhere she went.

Huong-Mai began her career in education teaching ESL in public schools in Montgomery County, MD, and eventually moved to the Montgomery County Board of Education. She went on to the private sector, launching her own consulting firm, continuing her work training educators on how to tackle cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic barriers.

Huong-Mai and her late husband, Howard, led an adventurous life of travelling, communing with friends, and visiting with family in their retirement. They supported the arts by subscribing to concert series, opera series, ballet series, plays, and enjoying all of the programming offered at the Kennedy Center. They jogged and played tennis, skied and hiked in the Alps, and toured the world from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica. When Howard became ill with Parkinson’s, Huong-Mai never left his side and fought for the best medical care for him, driving him to Parkinson’s exercise clinics all over the area every week. As best as he could, Howard did the same for her when she began losing her ability to speak.

Huong-Mai leaves behind her loving daughter, Mai-Trang, her brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, their spouses, and extended family.

A funeral mass will be held at Our Lady of Victory on August 17, 2023 at 11:30 am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) in her memory.