Dawn Ann Forest, 62, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on June 16, 2024. She was born May 15, 1962 in Derby, England and was the oldest daughter of Peter and Elaine Ives. She is survived by her daughter, Katie (Ryan) Schroeder, grandchildren, Kamryn, Rawson, Tyler and Reilly, her brother, Jason and sister, Kim, numerous sisters-in-law, cousins, nephews, nieces and extended family.
With the passing of Dawn’s two younger sisters at an early age, her life had already changed course and Dawn’s strong-willed, independent, selfless nature was born.
Soon after completing her education at Noell Baker Highschool, Dawn moved to Singapore with her family. She quickly found a job teaching English to foreign children while continuing to volunteer at local events. It is this chapter of her life where the journey of Dawn and Frank began.
When Frank arrived at her parents’ door with an airline ticket to fly around the world, she knew her life would never be the same. This journey led them to Bali, Thailand, and eventually to Texas where they were married at the Swinging Door BBQ Restaurant. The next few years Dawn lived in Scotland and England where they welcomed their daughter, Katie, into the world.
Due to the challenging circumstances faced by the oil industry, Dawn and Frank moved back to Richmond, Texas to begin a new chapter. With the start of Sharewell and Frank’s continuous travel, Dawn found herself relying on the advice of Frank’s fabulous five sisters. One story she often shared involved porcupine meatballs.
Before one of Frank’s trips home, Dawn went next door to Patsy’s house to ask for Frank’s favorite recipe. After hearing about porcupine meatballs, Dawn spent the entire afternoon looking for porcupine meat unaware that this didn’t exist. The sisters still get a laugh at this today!
As a devoted mother, Dawn spent many hours taking Katie to riding lessons, volunteering as a candy striper at the local hospital, working with the school’s PTO, and even opening her own tearoom. The Herndon Bell House was a local favorite specializing in afternoon tea and Dawn’s favorite recipes.
Over the next 10 years, Dawn drove the ‘Barn Brats’ thousands of miles to horseshows. Once Katie graduated out of the youth program, Dawn continued to volunteer for the Texas Quarter Horse Youth Association (TQHA). She was a familiar face at all of the horse shows and was commonly known as the ultimate horse-show-mom. Dawn joined the TQHA Youth Committee and spent the next 20-plus years on the show committee, served as a youth director and as TQHA President; all without ever touching a horse. A little-known fact- Dawn was actually scared of horses!
All of Dawn’s time and effort was rewarded when she received the 2015 Merle Wood Humanitarian Award from the American Quarter Horse Foundation. One of Dawn’s proudest moments was managing the Youth World Cup when it was hosted in College Station. Dawn was not only the US Team’s horse show mom, she quickly became the horse show mom to 16 different nations around the world.
When Dawn wasn’t volunteering her time, she was the epitome of a grandmother. Between teaching her grandkids how to bake and garden, Dawn never missed a softball, volleyball or basketball game. This is what she enjoyed most about her life – her family.
Our family will forever be grateful to the Neuro-Oncology team at MD Anderson, Ene Chibawayne MD PhD FCNS, Vinay Puduvalli MD, and Varghese Abey Mathai, MPAS, PA-C. There will never be enough words to describe how thankful we are for giving Dawn the precious gift of time.
She often told the story of Dr. Ene sharing the news that her cancer was back. As we walked out of that room in disbelief and in deep sadness, Dawn was more upset that Dr. Ene was having to tell her the news and how horrible she felt for him.
That was Dawn- always putting others first.
Memorial Services will be held at 3:00pm on July 11 at the Stella Hotel- 4100 Lake Atlas Drive, Bryan, TX.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made: In memory of Dawn Forest to MD Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486 or MDAnderson.org/Gifts and/or to Texas Quarter Horse Youth Association- 14 N Main Street, Suite B, Elgin, TX.