Sally Jane Bedell

Sally was the “middlest” (her term), of three children and a connector of people in all the best ways. Her smile can only be described as sunshine, her personality big, her volume loud.

She attended Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool, Taylor, and Swanson and spent eight happy summers at Camp Twin Creeks in West Virginia. She graduated from the Potomac School in 2024 and was pursuing a dual degree in cognitive science and linguistic computer science at UCLA, where she was a proud member of the Alpha Phi sorority.

Described as an Energizer Bunny, Sally was part of many teams throughout her life, including the Tiger Sharks swim team, Arlington Soccer, and the Potomac cross country and soccer teams. Most proudly, she was a founding member of the Mustaches basketball team, where she put every inch of her 5’5” frame into being a master rebounder.

Sally loved travel adventures. She rode camels in Egypt, zip-lined in Belize, tracked animals on safari in Botswana and supported the US women’s soccer team at the Paris World Cup. Sally also loved to try new foods and share her opinions on all of them (thumbs up to oysters, thumbs down to caterpillar). Sally loved the beach, downhill and waterskiing, as well as doing yoga with her SoulFire Collective family. She enjoyed taking long walks around DC and Los Angeles, reading and being with friends while listening to all kinds of music.

She had a maturity well beyond her 19 years and sense of support for others. Reliable and competent, her wide group of friends looked to her for direction and inspiration. She tutored younger kids in reading and math and was an activities coordinator at a senior living facility in Westwood, California.

But most of all, Sally was a loving daughter, sister and granddaughter and will be dearly missed by her parents, Rachel and Jeff Bedell, siblings Henry and Maisy, and her grandparents Ben Perri and Janet and Dennis Bedell. She is survived by her Amsterdam Perri-Polak family of Aunt Celeste, Uncle Bob and cousins Anna and Sam, and her McLean Bedell family of Uncle Kevin, Aunt Blair and cousins Alyssa and Bryan. She was predeceased by her Grandma Mimi, Mary Ellen Sweeney.

Sally’s life will be celebrated on Monday, August 18th, at Westover Baptist Church in Arlington at 11 am. For those unable to attend, the service will also be webcast. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Sally Bedell Memorial Fund through the Arlington Community Foundation.