Dawn Bernd-Steffes of Beaver Dams, NY was born on July 5, 1968, and passed on Friday, August 22, 2025 at home.

Dawn was preceded in death by Andrew Bernd (Brother), Billie Bernd (Mother), Donald Bernd (Father), and Ruth Groenhout (Sister).

Surviving Dawn are Tom Steffes (Husband), Kade, Ethan, Tivon, and Yoric Steffes (Sons). She is also survived by Cyndy Marquez and Laura Campbell (Sisters) and Steve Bernd (Brother).

Dawn loved and invested in her family. Dawn and Tom enjoyed a strong marriage partnership for 35 years. They took on many projects and enjoyed life together. Dawn just wished they could have ridden, in their camper, into their sunset years together as well.

Nothing made Dawn prouder than her sons. Seeing them grow up and develop into kind, hard-working, caring, and successful adults was her joy. She just wanted to have more time with them.

Dawn spent many years in the classroom, from 6th grade to college, teaching Biology, Environmental Science, General Science, Spanish, and a variety of other courses and labs. She loved seeing students engage and embrace their newly found knowledge.

One of Dawn's happy spots was spending time in her gardens and greenhouses. Tom joked that, "She doesn't have a green thumb, she has a green arm." Making things grow and flourish was one of her specialties; whether it was her sons, her students, or plants and puppies, she always found joy in this.

Spending time outside was always preferable to being inside for Dawn. Camping, hiking, biking, kayaking, botanizing (even while riding in a car), and photographing nature were all pleasurable events for Dawn. They were even more pleasurable when done with family and friends.

Dawn was an artist in the kitchen. Always exploring new ways to make similar meals using fresh produce and a variety of seasonings, she would create enough to feed a small army. Yet when it was time to celebrate a birthday, and someone's favorite meal was requested, it always tasted just right. While she had recipes and even created a recipe book of family favorites to give to all her sons, she often would just "wing it," knowing just the right ingredients and amounts to add.

Another important aspect of Dawn's life was her friends. Whether they were friends that she had known for several decades or ones that she met more recently, she always enjoyed connecting with them through visiting, phone calls, text messages, or other social media.

While moving is always difficult because of leaving friends behind, it is immensely more difficult when you are diagnosed with cancer shortly after moving, and all your friends are 9 to 10 hours away. Being welcomed with open arms in eastern PA led Dawn to some dear "new" friends.

While Cancer sucks, Dawn was able to meet some fantastic people through the various support groups, such as Bravehearts, the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, and other Metastatic Breast Cancer support groups, which led to more dear friends for her.

Dawn lived a varied and well-traveled life, starting with being born in a VW bus on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. From birth through high school, Dawn lived in Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico, Lansing, MI, Huntington Beach, CA, Bogota, Colombia, and Lomalinda, Colombia. In 1986, she went to college in Upland, IN, where she met Tom. They were married on July 28, 1990, and lived the next 28 years in the Muncie, IN area, raising their 4 sons on a farm. In 2018, they moved to Madison TWP, PA, near Scranton, and finally in 2022 to Beaver Dams, NY.

Dawn was diagnosed with metastatic breast Cancer in December of 2018. She spent the past 7 years in treatment for this disease. She was very grateful for the research leading to treatments and medication, allowing her to have more time with her family and friends. Because of this, she wants to "Pay It Forward" by asking that, instead of sending flowers or other items, people make donations to Metavivor, to fund ongoing research into Metastatic Breast Cancer, hopefully allowing other women to live longer and better, or to the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester which was a huge support for Dawn.

Metavivor

Donate Online: https://donate.metavivor.org/main Donate by Check: Make it payable to "METAvivor, Inc." and send it by mail to: METAvivor 7780 Elmwood Ave, Suite 130. Middleton, WI 53562

Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester

Donate Online: https://bccr.org/donate/ Donate by Check: Breast Cancer Coalition, 1048 University Ave, Rochester, NY 14607