Kayna Lu Mitchell Nielson peacefully passed away in her home surrounded by the love of her family on the morning of September 16, 2026 after a recent diagnosis of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), a rare and rapidly progressive fatal brain disorder.

Our precious Kayna was born to Owen Mark & Syble Aliene Mitchell in Tachikawa, Japan on February 4, 1969 and joined a rowdy bunch of 4 older siblings. Dad was a pilot in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Japan at the time of her birth. Shortly after, the family moved back to the U.S. and chose Bountiful, Utah to finally plant roots. We loved camping in the northern Utah mountains with a large extended family and spent many summers in the mountains. Kayna loved her family deeply and was completely dedicated to all of them. She was a faithful member of the church of Christ her entire life. She was the aunt that always gave the coolest and best gifts. At the age of 43 she became a mother to a beautiful baby girl whom she adored. Being single all of her life, she had finally met the man of her dreams, Tony in 2023 and married him in 2025.

Kayna was extremely creative and loved to cross stitch, bake, sew, make candy and cookies including frosted Christmas and Halloween cookies. She loved cats and had many of them throughout the years. She also loved to travel, visiting all over the United States, Hawaii & the Bahamas. She loved going to Disney World, that seemed to be her magical happy place. Kayna was an extraordinarily shy and gentle person. She much preferred a family party or her own couch and a movie to going out. She had an extremely bright mind and loved to read, play board games, video games and work puzzles. She pursued a career in the tech world after graduating from Weber State College with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and began her career at Venture Data where she stayed for over 30 years. 

Survived by her beloved daughter Alena, husband Tony, siblings Doug (Lynette), Kerri (Val Putnam), Kristy, Darren (Sonia), many nieces and nephews and 1 great niece.

Words cannot express how much we are going to miss our beautiful, kind hearted baby sister. She was a remarkable human being and we were so blessed to have her in our lives. 

Preceded in death by her beloved dad and mom.

A celebration of life in Kayna’s honor will be held on Saturday, September 26th at 12:00 p.m. at City View Mortuary 1001 E 11th Ave Salt Lake City, UT 84103

A light meal will be served after the service