Her life
Kaylie was driven as a little girl to always learn. She spoke early and had a propensity to gain knowledge from every situation. School was something she loved and saw it as valuable because it taught her the wonders of the world and how things functioned. She loved, as summer neared to a close, to go shopping for school supplies and was so excited for the first day. She worked so hard at her studies and her extracurricular activities of piano and singing. She loved to read and get lost in stories. She wanted to learn. Loved to learn.
She met Dr Phil Langill at the University of Calgary career fair. She always had an aspiration to become an astronomer and that meeting gave her the path forward.
Kaylie spent many years studying to attain her PhD. Her undergrad was at the University of Calgary, her masters was at the University of Alberta and her PhD was at Western in Ontario. Along side of the formal part of her education, she loved to be part of the outreach programs to share her love of astronomy with others. Her excitement when talking about space was so palpable you couldn’t help but get caught up in it. How many people can say their chosen vocation is their passion. It was hers.
Although Kaylie didn’t have the chance to contribute as she would have liked to the field of astronomy, she taught all of us how to push for a dream and to not let anything stop you.
To all of you who didn’t have the opportunity to meet this amazing woman and to those of you who did, we want to commemorate her for her spirit, her drive, her love of life and of knowledge, her fascination with the cosmos and her yearning to be part of the journey to understand it.
Kaylie working at the University of Alberta observatory
Kaylie was an avid trekkie and Klingon fan
