Dawn Margaret Koschnitzki, 59, of Laramie, WY, Fort Collins, CO, and Chicago, IL, passed away on September 12, 2025, at MCR in Loveland, CO of a heart attack.

Dawn was a daughter, sister, wife, and friend. This gentle, loving, funny, curious, thoughtful, generous and kind woman was born in Chicago, IL on December 13, 1965, the first child of Jeanne Marie (Skrinskus) Koschnitzki and Richard Kenneth Koschnitzki. The family moved to Fort Collins, CO when she was three years old. She often said how much she enjoyed her childhood in Fort Collins. While in junior high, she took a 4-H class in cake decorating that helped her land her first official job at Baskin-Robbins. She attended Poudre High School and Colorado State University. She took a year off from school and moved to Chicago and then Arkansas-off on her first solo adventure! She returned and received her BA Degree in English in 1990.

In 1986, while at CSU, she met her husband, Lantz Barbour. They had been together for 39 years. Schooling and jobs took them on many adventures. During their time in North Carolina, she received her second bachelor’s degree, a BS in Dietetics from North Carolina University, Greensboro in 1998.

Over the years, she held jobs as a waitperson, substitute teacher, assistant dietitian, nutritionist for the Older Americans Program, nutritional research assistant, a lunch lady, projects coordinator for NAIC in DC and graduate student coordinator for the Department of Ecology at CSU. She made friends wherever she lived and worked, some lifelong.

Travels took Dawn and Lantz to Amsterdam, Paris, England and (her favorite), Iceland among other places. They moved back to Colorado in 2013 and to Laramie in 2024, to be closer to family.

Her love for her many cats over the years (currently Pete and Gus) and love for all animals started at a young age. She even rescued sidewalk worms after a rainstorm. The couple also adopted a rooster named “Spike” at the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary while living in the DC area.

Going out to lunch and finding good vegetarian food was something she enjoyed, as well as her trips to the library to find “good reads”, as she put it. Her cookbook collection, tea collection, books, music, and trees were so visible in her life along with her belief in fairies, leprechauns, and gnomes. She was very creative and dabbled in watercolors, creative prose and poetry, and pottery. She also was a great cook. Dawn had a great sense of humor and could laugh at herself. She was not religious yet was very spiritual and had a strong connection to the mystical and eternal. She cared for and respected all lifeforms on the planet.

Dawn is survived by her husband, Lantz, her mother, Jeanne, her siblings, Lisa Moore (Craig) of Hudson, WI., Kenneth Koschnitzki (Melodie Edwards) of Laramie, three nieces, three nephews and a grand-nephew.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents and her father, Richard.

Dawn will be missed and remembered fondly by her caring family and friends who cherished and deeply loved her.

A remembrance of Dawn’s life will be held in early June of next year.

In lieu of flowers, please make a direct donation to Interfaith of Laramie, Feeding Laramie Valley, Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary or plant a tree in her honor.