Kieran Moulton Shell

1997 - 2023

Kieran Moulton Shell
June 5, 1997 - April 22, 2023
Belfast, Maine - Kieran Moulton Shell, born in San Francisco on June 5, 1997, died in San Francisco April 22, 2023. Kieran lived his life with fierce intensity, brilliance, creativity, and adventure.
After his first three years of urban living in San Francisco he moved to Belfast, Maine where he grew up running free, playing with sticks and swords, rocks and mud, anything with which he could conjure up a yarn with his creative mind. Still, he traveled to San Francisco throughout his childhood, loving that city as well as his rural life.
Kieran loved music from a young age and was fortunate to study keys and voice throughout elementary and middle school. He was a multi-instrumentalist, taught himself just about any instrument with strings, most affectionately the banjo that he learned while hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was sixteen. Kieran was a beautiful songwriter, leaving behind many recordings, his clear, strong voice delivering heart-felt lyrics.
Kieran attended the Riley School in Rockport, Maine from 2nd to 8th grade. Riley gave him a place for his bold, busy, extroverted personality to thrive. He particularly loved the theater. He acted in every Shakespeare play, every musical, and sang in all of the musical ensembles. Kieran also acted with the Belfast Maskers, making quite a hit in the role as the Artful Dodger in Oliver as a 12-year-old.
Kieran was always on the move, which was channeled into sprinting across the soccer field throughout his school years and tearing down the mountain on his snowboard in the winter. He hiked, sailed (sometimes reluctantly) and camped throughout his childhood. He summited Katahdin several times on family trips, climbed volcanoes in Guatemala, with the pinnacle of his adventures climbing to the base camp of Mt Everest in Nepal with his dear friend Jack Henry.
His lifelong interest in the natural world stemmed from childhood summers at Camp Forest in Brooks, Maine, where he ran barefoot in the woods, learned about wild medicinal and edible plants, and primitive survival skills. He carried his love of the natural world into his studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, where he blended politics and biology to research the political history of the illegalization of hemp, and farm and garden projects in the prison system in California.
Kieran never took the conventional route. He meandered through high school with a little over a year at Belfast High, taking online and adult education classes, and college classes at the University of Maine. He spent his third and last year of high school at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, graduating in 2014.
Kieran had a strong commitment to justice. Even as a child he looked out for the underdog. He was involved in many political causes, fighting for the environment and for racial justice. While attending Evergreen, he could be found at every rally and protest. His dedication to change included a direct action camp-out on Olympia railroad tracks to block the transport of fracking materials. True to form, Kieran combined his love of nature with his political work; he brought his training as wilderness EMT to his role of medic in street actions.
With his boisterous personality, he never shied away from throwing himself into the center of a political fight. At 19 he was arrested on false charges while exercising his free speech rights at a rally and was vindicated by successfully suing the Washington State Patrol.
He was an active member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and was particularly interested in autonomous communities such as the Zapatistas in Mexico and the Rojava in Syria, reflecting his vision of a world more fair and free, where every person had the opportunity to thrive through self-governance.
Kieran's expanding interest in biology led him to working as a landscape gardener in San Francisco during the pandemic. He tended his own plants, propagating succulents and sages, and was fascinated with the science of soil and composting. Kieran was an alchemist in the kitchen; his creativity shined with fabulous curry blends and chais inspired by his trip to India. He made a mean lemon meringue pie with lemons harvested from Coco's trees in San Francisco.
Kieran was a traveler and an adventurer of the planet and of his mind. In his waking hours he was passionately working on a project or researching a current interest. He loved museums, exploring historical sites and was an avid reader. His sensitivities to the world were profound. He pushed the boundaries in whatever he did, challenging conventional thinking, then bouncing back to the next adventure or to take up the next cause. Kieran died of an apparent overdose on the streets of San Francisco.
As a very social person Kieran's friends were the rocks in his life. He was fiercely connected to his dynamic and loving family whom he never hesitated to challenge to become more fair and honest. His mother Betsy, who raised him as a single parent, nurtured him to be the lively, eccentric, free-spirited person that he was. He was lucky to have his other mother, Coco in San Francisco who graced him with love and a whole other set of adventures. We all deeply loved him and are sure going to miss him.
Kieran leaves behind his mother Betsy Shell (Belfast), his other mother, Coco Cook (San Francisco), his dear little cousins: Emmett Shell, Tazma and Taro Matsumoto Shell (mother Fukiko), and Xander Virasingh; his aunts and uncles: Susan Shell (Bill), Peter Shell (Shu), Michael Shell, and Katy Virasingh (Bobby); his big-brother Dyami Quilici (Ali); Bob New (Sara), his beloved half-sister Emmeline New, and his adored Fluffy The Cat.
A celebration in honor of Kieran's life will be held on June 3 on Court Street in Belfast, Maine. For more information and to make a contribution in memory of Kieran, refer to a Facebook event at this link: https://tinyurl.com/28xd8uzm