The legacy of kindness, compassion and love that embodied Dawn Morden — mother, pianist, teacher and founder of the Brian Morden Foundation — won’t be fading away anytime soon.

Morden, after a 10-month battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, passed away Saturday, June 4, at the age of 65.

“I’ve never met a more caring, giving, generous, supportive person in my life,” said close friend and BMF Secretary Cathy Chirdon. “She is going to be missed very, very much.”

An Altoona native, Morden is perhaps best known for her work raising awareness of childhood cancer and supporting local families dealing with a childhood cancer diagnosis through the Brian Morden Foundation — a nonprofit organization that was established in honor of her son, Brian Morden, who passed away from Ewing’s Sarcoma on Feb. 15, 2003, at the age of 19.

“She was so passionate about sharing awareness and helping people with childhood cancer,” BMF Vice President Barb Piper said. “It was not her whole life, but it was behind everything she was doing.”

Chirdon and Piper both knew Morden through their own personal tragedies. Chirdon’s granddaughter, Kiera, was undergoing treatment for cancer when she found out about the foundation.

When Morden found out about Kiera battling cancer, “she right away wanted to help. That’s how she was with all the kids,” Chirdon said.

Piper knew Morden and was involved with the foundation before her own son passed away from cancer at the age of 30. It was through that work that Piper was able to recognize her son’s symptoms before his diagnosis.

“Words just feel so inadequate, it just feels that there is so much more that could be said, but I don’t have the words to express how special she was,” Piper said.

Through the foundation, Morden helped families dealing with childhood cancer by giving out gas cards to travel to children’s hospitals in Pittsburgh, Hershey and Danville. In addition, the foundation helps families with expenses when staying in hotels and has even helped a family with a rental car when their car wasn’t good enough to transport the child to another state for treatment.

“Dawn was a huge support. She went through this with her child, Brian, who passed away” so she knew what families needed, Chirdon said.

Morden played the organ at the Duncansville Evangelical Lutheran Church while Piper was in the choir.

An avid music lover, Morden was also the church’s musical director, her sister, Lisa Cronin, said.

“Some have described her as having a heart as big as an ocean,” she said.

That heart undoubtedly helped during her career as a teacher in the Altoona Area School District, where she worked until about five years ago, Cronin said.

An elementary school teacher first, then a gifted support specialist, Morden finished her tenure with the district as the KIND teacher, a program for students to support them with credit recovery and ultimately get them to graduation, district community relations director Paula Foreman said.

Morden also set up two categories of scholarships with the district through the foundation, with one for cancer survivors and the other for anyone with an interest in the medical field or in music — one of her son’s passions, Cronin said.

When she wasn’t teaching, creating music or doing foundation work, Morden loved to travel. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Morden traveled to Singapore and Vietnam with her son Jamin.

She also loved driving around Altoona with her beloved border collie-Brittany spaniel mix Meggie.

“Dawn loved taking her for car rides and taking her along wherever she went,” Cronin said, adding that Meggie now lived with her.

Morden’s family is planning a celebration of life in her honor on July 1 at 2 p.m. at the Duncansville Evangelical Church. There will be a service with a light reception afterwards where mourners will have the opportunity to gather, share stories and support one another, Cronin said.

Morden’s passing leaves no one at the helm of the Brian Morden Foundation.

While family members would take over, they are not local, with Cronin living in Harrisburg and Jamin living in Maryland. However, Cronin is sure the foundation will continue on in some capacity.

“It really takes a lot of time and dedication,” Cronin said. “It’s too soon to tell what will happen.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.