Kayla Anne Bell, age 23, of Winchester, died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 4, 2020. She was the beloved daughter of Stephen and Paulette Bell, and the cherished granddaughter of Anne Bell and Joseph Bell of Woburn.
Born in Melrose, Massachusetts, Kayla was a lifelong Winchester resident and graduated from Winchester High School with the class of 2015. Always one to uplift the communities she cared about, she was an Altar Server, Rectory Office Worker, and Youth Choir member at St. Mary’s Church, an Active Lifetime Girl Scout who received her Gold Award, and a Trail Maintenance volunteer at Chatham Trails Association in Chatham, New Hampshire.
Kayla attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York to further her goal of helping people through medicine, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry/Biophysics in 2019. While at RPI, she was an involved officer for Science Ambassadors, a program where she was able to introduce and share her passion for science with underprivileged and special needs students.
Thrilled about the opportunity, Kayla was currently working as a research scientist at Boston University Medical Center, performing RNA and immunology research and enjoying the many friendships, professional relationships, and learning opportunities she found while there.
In her spare time, Kayla was an avid outdoors(wo)man, spending time kayaking, hiking, camping and mountain climbing. Her most recent goal was to climb all of New Hampshire’s peaks over 4,000 feet -- she had completed 14 of them.
In addition to her parents, Steve and Paulette, and grandparents, Anne Bell and Joseph Bell, Kayla is lovingly survived by her brother, Kieran Bell of Winchester, her fiancé Ensign Conrad Dorn of St. Louis, Missouri, her Uncle Douglas and Aunt Moira Bell of Branford, Connecticut, her Aunt Deborah Peach and her Husband Bob of Sandwich, Massachusetts, her uncle the late Frederick Wheeler III, her cousins Freddy Wheeler of Jerusalem, Israel and Joanne Wheeler of Hudson, Massachusetts, her favorite dog friends Minnie, Moe and Maisie, and many other loving relatives and friends.
Relatives and friends are kindly invited to gather for a graveside service inside the main gate at Wildwood Cemetery 34 Palmer St., Winchester, on Monday, August 10th at 10:00 AM, and are respectfully asked to remember to wear masks and to observe social distancing requirements. In lieu of flowers, donations in Kayla’s memory may be made to the Chatham Trails Association (http://www.chathamtrails.org – go to the “Contact/Join” Tab).